A pack of meerkats on the edge of the Ntwetwe salt pan in the Northern Kalahari.These unusual-looking social mongooses inhabit dry, open country with hard ground, such as alkaline salt pans. They leave their dens soon after sunrise and before foraging, they warm themselves facing the sun on their hindlegs in a posture that maximises the exposure of the thin-haired underside of their bodies to the sun.