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 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 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.^[1] 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.

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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.^[2]

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

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 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 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.
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.

Notes

^ Mary Sadler-Altena, "Kalahari: Introduction" webpage: SouthernCape-Kalahari^{[dead link‍]}: Kalahari name/climate/reserves and history.
^ "South Africa - Pomfret". abc.net. Retrieved 2007-01-03.