Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert islarge, aridsemi-arid sandy areasouthern Africa that covers about 500,000 km². It covers 70%Botswana,partsZimbabwe, NamibiaSouth Africa. Some sources would extendedarea ofKalahariover 2.5 million square kilometresinclude Gabon, Republic ofCongo,Democratic Republic ofCongo, Angola,Zambia.The Kalahari has vast areas covered by red-brown sandshas no permanent surface water. Drainageby dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans, andlarge salt pans ofMakgadikgadi DepressionBotswanaEtosha PanNamibia. However,Kalaharinottrue desert. Parts ofKalahari receive over 250 mmerratic rainfall annually andquite well vegetated; itonly truly arid insouth-west (under 175mmrain annually) makingKalaharifossil desert. Summer temperatures inKalahari range from 20 - 40 °C. In winter,Kalahari hasdry, cold climatefrosts at night. The average low winter temperature can be below 0 °C.
The Kalahari hasnumbergame reserves -Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR,world's second largest protected area), Khutse Game Reserve andKgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Animals that live inregion include brown hyenas, lionss, meerkats, several speciesantelope (includingoryx or gemsbok andtsamma),many speciesbirdreptile. Vegetation inKalahari consists mainlygrassesacacias but thereover 400 identified plant species present.
The area isancestral land ofBushmen peoples. Theremany distinct tribes,they have no collective namethemselves. The names SanBasarwasometimes used, butpeople themselves dislike these names (San isKhoi word meaning outsider,BasarwaHerero word meaning person who has nothing)prefername "Bushman". Theythoughthave beenfirst human inhabitantsSouthern Africa; thereevidence thathave been living there continuously as nomadic hunter-gatherersat least twenty thousand years.
In 1965Botswanan government forced allBushmen from their lands withinbordersthat country"resettled" themfixed encampments. The government has given several different justificationstheir action: thatwaspurposesnature conservation; thatwas too expensivecontinuesupplyBushmenwater (the water table had been lowered by farmingother development); thatwas "to enable themshare inwealth ofcountry"; thatwastheir own goodbecome settled"civilised". The campaign group Survival International have alleged thatreal reason forre-settlement isfree uplanddiamond mining, butdifferent group campaigning forrights ofBushmen, Ditshwanelo (the Botswanan CentreHuman Rights), dispute this, claiming thatGovernment's motivesgenuine, but misguided.
Therelarge coal, copper,nickel deposits inregion. One oflargest diamond mines inworldlocated at Orapa inMakgadikgadi, northeastern Kalahari.
Kalahariderived from Tswana word "Kgalagadi", meaning "the great thirst".
