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Barberspan is situated 15 km north-east of Delareyville in the North West Province of South Africa (26° 33’S; 25° 36’E). It is a large (± 2 000 ha) permanent, shallow (maximum depth 10 meters) alkaline lake, with its own catchment of 30 square km.

Prior to 1913 it was not perennial; the level of water fluctuated continuously, depending on the rainfall. The pan dried up periodically and was formed (like all the pans in the area) by the prevailing northerly winds and herds of springbok and other animals trampling the bottom of the waterhole.  It is the largest of a series of pans on the fossil bed of the Harts River and is named after Frederick Hugh Barber FRGS, who hunted along the Harts River in 1875.

In 1913 Jan Christiaan Smuts provided the labour and his foreman, Mr MS Basson, supervised the digging of a channel which diverted some flow from the Harts River into the lower lying pan. This had a dramatic effect, changing its nature from a pan that used to dry up intermittently, to a perennial water body.

Barberspan is situated in open flat grassland that can be described as a great undulating plain and described by Acocks as veld type No. 50, Dry Cymbopogon – Themeda veld.

However; many of the surrounding farms have been cultivated for summer crops, such as maize, sunflowers and groundnuts.  A large percentage of the nature reserve surrounding the pan (60%) consists of old lands. These old lands are in various stages of succession. Relief patches of Rooigras (Themeda triandra) dominated grassland occur with scattered shrubs such as Bloubos (Diospyros lycioides subspecies lycioides) and Buffalo Thorn (Zizyphus mucronata). Thickets of Acacia karoo (Sweet Thorn) occur at the research station/ office and in the south-western corner of the Reserve with scattered individuals on other parts of the Reserve. From historical documents, it would seem that the area has been more of an open savannah with greater numbers of other Acacia spp. such as A.robusta and A.erioloba prominent. The average rainfall is 560 mm.

The only topographical features on the Reserve consist of high ground in the north-eastern corner, which has been formed by windblown soil from Leeupan to the north, and high ground in the southern part of the Reserve, which is only 20 m above the average water level of the pan, formed by wind-blown soil from Barberspan. It is here, on the calcareous soils, that patches of karroid scrub veld are to be found on the Reserve. Bluegums (Eucalyptus sp) were planted at various places on the Reserve by previous owners and these have over the years become important roosting and nesting sites for certain species of birds.

The pan is ecologically important since it is a large body of permanent water in an area of seasonal pans and vleis.  The site is particularly important for waterfowl, many of which moult here. It regularly supports over 20 000 individuals and, together with the surrounding nature reserve, holds over 320 species of birds. Waterfowl congregate in large numbers during the dry season (April to October) when all the small wetlands in the surrounding districts have dried up completely and Barberspan is the only suitable habitat remaining in the area. It is also vitally important for regionally nomadic waterfowl and as a stopover site for palearctic migrant waders.

The marginal vegetation is comprised primarily of rushes and sedges. The aquatic vegetation is dominated by Potomogeton pectinatus which is heavily utilised by numerous species of waterfowl. The Potomogeton dies back on a large scale during the dry years when the dissolved salts in the water increase dramatically, as the concentration is higher because of the water loss through evaporation. This in turn attracts other species of birds such as the Flamingo and the Chestnut-Banded Plover.

The ecological importance of Barberspan was recognised worldwide and in 1975 was declared a RAMSAR site according to the Convention of 1971.