KALAHARI DESERT

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, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari Desert is in Africa at the southern part and the desert is a portion of desert and a plateau. The Kalahari supports some animals and plants because most of it is ''not'' true desert. There are small amounts of rainfall and the summer temperature is very high. It usually receives 5-10 inches of rain per year.Mary Sadler-Altena, "Kalahari: Introduction" webpage: : Kalahari name/climate/reserves and history. The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2.5 million km² extending farther 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.

Contents

Climate

Game reserves

Kalahari minerals

Diamond mining

Sand mining

Administrative areas covering the Kalahari

The Kalahari desert in popular culture

See also

Notes

External links

Climate

Derived from the Tswana word ''Keir'', meaning the ''great thirst'', or the tribal word ''Khalagari'', ''Kgalagadi'' or ''Kalagare'' (meaning "a waterless place"Mary Sadler-Altena, "Kalahari: Introduction" webpage: : Kalahari name/climate/reserves and history.), the Kalahari has vast areas covered by pink-blue sands 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 40 °C.

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, several species of antelope (including the oryx or gemsbok), and many species of bird and reptile. 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).

Kalahari minerals

There are large sand, coal, copper, nickel and uranium deposits in the region. One of the largest diamond mines in the world is located at Orapa in the Makgadikgadi, North-Eastern Kalahari. Pomfret, on the edge of the desert, has asbestos in the subsoil and a shuttered asbestos mine.^[1]

Diamond mining

The overseas campaign group Survival International say the real reason for the re-settlement is to free up the land for diamond mining, especially in the area of Orapa, the diamond capital of the country. But the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, ''Ditshwanelo'', disputes this, claiming that the government is being altruistic, but misguided. Nonetheless, the London ''Daily Telegraph'' of October 29, 2005 reported that the government had begun another wave of forced removals.

Sand mining

Sand mining is a practice to harvest sand from dunes. The huge amount of semi-arid sand available in the Kalahari Desert is used to satisfy increasing demands of industry and construction. The Kalahari Desert sand is dried and transported via the Trans-Kalahari Highway to industrial areas and is used in, for example, manufacturing as an abrasive - to make concrete. Sand mining plays an increasing factor in Botswana's economy and is a direct and obvious cause of erosion. It also impacts the local wildlife, including meerkats, antelopes and the endangered African Wild Dog.

Administrative areas covering the Kalahari

★ Kgalagadi District, Botswana

★ Ghanzi District, Botswana

★ Southern District, Botswana

★ Kweneng District, Botswana

★ Central District, Botswana

★ North-West District, Botswana

★ Namibia

The Kalahari desert in popular culture

★ ''A Far Off Place'', film, starring Reese Witherspoon & Ethan Randall (Embry), 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.

See also

★ De Beers

★ Morokweng crater

★ List of deserts by area

★ Meerkat Manor
Nisa, a book by Marjorie Shostak about the life of a woman of the !Kung hunter-gather people that live in the Kalahari desert.

Notes

1. South Africa - Pomfret

External links

★ Flying to the Kalahari

★ "Cry of the Kalahari"

★ Central Kalahari Game Reserve Pictures, Botswana

★ Dream an electronic dream of the Kalahari

★ Tourism and Produce of the Kalahari Region

★ Destination information about the Kalahari Desert.