Kalahari Desert

Desert region, southern Africa. It covers an area of 360,000 sq mi (930,000 sq km) and lies mostly in Botswana but also occupies portions of Namibia and South Africa. It was crossed by the British explorers David Livingstone and William C. Oswell in 1849. Although the region has no permanent surface water apart from the Boteti River, it supports trees, low scrub, and grasses as well as abundant wildlife. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and the Gemsbok National Park.

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The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Kgalagadi Africa extending 900,000 km² (362,500 sq. mi.), covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It has huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains.

The Kalahari Desert is the southern part of Africa, and the geography is a portion of desert and a plateau. The Kalahari supports some animals and plants because most of it is not a true desert. There are small amounts of rainfall and the summer temperature is very high. It usually receives 3–7 1/2 inches of rain per year. The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2.5 million km² extending further into Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, and encroaching into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The only permanent river, the Okavango, flows into a delta in the northwest, forming marshes that are rich in wildlife. Ancient dry riverbeds—called omuramba—traverse the Central Northern reaches of the Kalahari and provide standing pools of water during the rainy season. Previously havens for wild animals from elephant to giraffe, and for predators such as lion and cheetah, the riverbeds are now mostly grazing spots, though leopard or cheetah can still be found.

Climate

Derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning the great thirst, or the tribal word Khalagari, Kgalagadi or Kalagare (meaning "a waterless place"), the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. Drainage is by dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans, and the large salt pans of the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and Etosha Pan in Namibia. However, the Kalahari is not a true desert. Parts of the Kalahari receive over 250 mm of erratic rainfall annually and are quite well vegetated; it is only truly arid in the southwest (under 175 mm of rain annually) making the Kalahari a fossil desert. Summer temperatures in the Kalahari range from 20 to 45 °C. (68 to 113°F.)

The Kalahari Desert was once a much wetter place. The ancient Lake Makgadikgadi dominated the area, covering the Makgadikgadi Pan and other areas, until its final drainage some 10,000 years ago. It may have once covered as much as 80,000 km² and was approximately 30 m deep.

Game reserves

The Kalahari has a number of game reserves—the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR, the world's second largest protected area), Khutse Game Reserve and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Animals that live in the region include brown hyenas, lions, meerkats, giraffe, warthogs, jackals and several species of antelope (including the eland, gemsbok, springbok, hartebeest, steenbok, kudu, and duiker), and many species of bird and reptiles. Vegetation in the Kalahari consists mainly of grasses and acacias but there are over 400 identified plant species present (including the wild watermelon or Tsamma melon). Camel rides across the desert are also offered

Population

The San people or Bushmen have lived in the Kalahari for 20,000 years as hunter-gatherers. That means they survive by hunting wild game with bows and arrows and gathering edible plants like berries, melons and nuts as well as insects. Bushmen rarely drink water; They get most of water requirements from plant roots and desert melons found on or under the desert floor: they often store water in the blown-out shells of ostrich eggs. The San have their own characteristic language that includes clicking sounds. These Bushmen live in huts built from local materials — the frame is made of branches and the roof is thatched with long grass.The Bantu-speaking Tswana, Kgalagadi, and Herero, and a small number of European settlers also live in the Kalahari.

Settlements within the Kalahari

Bostwana

• Ghanzi
• Tshane
• Tshabong
• Orapa

Namibia

• Gobabis
• Mariental

South Africa

• Rietfontein
• Noenieput
• Severn

The Kalahari desert in popular culture

• A Far Off Place, film, starring Reese Witherspoon & Ethan Randall, based on the books "A Story Like the Wind" and "A Far Off Place" by Laurens Van Der Post
• The Gods Must Be Crazy, film
• Meerkat Manor, television series documenting the Kalahari Meerkat Project
• Survivorman, survival television series
• Top Gear, British television series, featuring an episode following a desert challenge in which Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May attempt to drive three old cars across Botswana, including the Kalahari Desert
• The Power of the Sword, novel by Wilbur Smith
• Lions of the Kalahari, song by Sam Roberts

See also

• De Beers
• Morokweng crater
• List of deserts by area
• Meerkat Manor

Notes

External links

• "Cry of the Kalahari"
• Central Kalahari Game Reserve Pictures, Botswana
• Dream an electronic dream of the Kalahari
• Plants of the Kalahari
• Kalahari desert's 'forgotten' influence on carbon levels