Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari is a vast semi-desert that covers much of southern Africa. It is sometimes argued whether the Kalahari is a true desert because most of it gets enough rain to support tough grasses and scattered trees. But the temperatures, the sandy soil and the lack of any permanent rivers across most of it give it a desert feel. The Kalahari is famous for its iconic wildlife (meerkats, lions, oryx) and as the home of the San bushmen, one of the oldest cultures on Earth.

  • Areaapprox. 900,000 km²About the size of France and Germany combined
  • Countries3Botswana, Namibia, South Africa
  • Hottest temperatureapprox. 45 °CIn summer
  • Coldest temperature-15 °COn winter nights
  • Rainfall150 to 500 mm/yearWetter than most deserts
  • Famous peopleSan bushmenPossibly the oldest human culture on Earth

The Kalahari compared to other African deserts

Area (million km²)
Sahara9.2
Kalahari0.9
Namib0.08

The Kalahari is the second biggest desert in Africa. It is sometimes called a "semi-desert" because it gets more rain than the Sahara or the Namib.

What is the Kalahari?

The Kalahari is a vast sandy plain in southern Africa, covering most of Botswana plus parts of Namibia and South Africa. The whole region sits on top of a huge ancient sand deposit, the Kalahari Sands, which is over 100 metres thick in places. Although the surface is mostly red and brown sand, there is usually enough underground water to support tough grasses, thorn trees and scrub. The plains are dotted with isolated rocky outcrops called inselbergs.

The San people

The San (sometimes called Bushmen or !Kung) are the indigenous people of southern Africa and possibly the oldest continuous human culture on Earth. Genetic studies suggest that San ancestors split from the rest of humanity over 100,000 years ago, longer ago than any other modern human population. The San traditionally lived as hunter-gatherers in small bands, with a deep knowledge of the desert's plants and animals. They are also one of the few peoples in the world who can survive in the Kalahari without external water for weeks, drinking from desert melons, dug-up roots and stored water in ostrich eggs.

Fact The San language uses click consonants, sounds made by clicking the tongue against different parts of the mouth. Several San and related languages use as many as five distinct click sounds, more than any other languages in the world. Click consonants survive in only a handful of African languages and may be among the oldest sounds in human speech.

Wildlife of the Kalahari

The Kalahari supports an astonishing variety of wildlife given its dryness. Meerkats live in tightly organised family groups in burrows under the sand, taking turns to stand watch for predators. Black-maned lions, larger than other African lions, are specially adapted to the desert and can go without water for weeks by getting moisture from their prey. There are also oryx (also called gemsbok, with long straight horns), springbok, brown hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, sand cats, honey badgers, ostriches, and the famous Kalahari Bushman lions.

The Okavango Delta

One of the most extraordinary natural features near the Kalahari is the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The Okavango River flows from the Angolan highlands south into the desert, then spreads out into a vast inland delta that is never reaches the sea. Every year the wet-season floods turn the dry Kalahari into a watery wonderland, attracting huge numbers of elephants, lions, buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, antelopes and birds. The Delta is one of the great wildlife destinations on Earth.

Did you know? The Kalahari's name comes from the Tswana word "Kgala", meaning "the great thirst". The Tswana people are the largest ethnic group in Botswana, which takes its name from them.
Deeper dive: Kalahari geology, the Bushmen genocide and the diamonds underneath

The Kalahari sits on top of a vast geological feature called the Kalahari Basin, a depression in the centre of southern Africa that gradually filled with sand and other sediments over the last 60 million years. Most of the sand is wind-blown material derived from older rocks, but some came from rivers that flowed off the surrounding highlands. The Kalahari Sands are unusual in being so deep and so extensive: in places they form layers over 100 metres thick. The underlying rocks are some of the oldest in Africa, dating back over 2 billion years.

The San people have suffered a tragic history of displacement, persecution and outright extermination over the last 500 years. European colonisers, white settlers and Bantu-speaking African groups all gradually pushed the San off their traditional lands. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, hunting permits for the killing of San people were issued in parts of southern Africa, in what amounted to a systematic genocide. By 1900, the San population had been reduced from perhaps a million to a few tens of thousands, mostly in the remoter parts of the Kalahari. The remaining San now face new pressures from tourism, government relocation programmes and lack of recognition of their land rights.

The Kalahari and adjacent areas contain some of the richest diamond deposits on Earth. Botswana is one of the world's largest diamond producers; the Jwaneng mine is regarded as the richest diamond mine by value in the world. Diamond mining transformed Botswana from one of the poorest countries in Africa in the 1960s to one of the most prosperous. The country has used diamond revenues to fund education, infrastructure and conservation. The Botswanan model is often cited as one of the better examples of how a developing country can manage its mineral wealth.

The biggest country in the Kalahari is Botswana. The neighbouring African desert is the Namib.

Geography

The Kalahari covers about 560,000 km² across Botswana (which it dominates), eastern Namibia and northern South Africa. Unlike true deserts, most of the Kalahari receives 150–500 mm of rain per year and supports savanna grassland and tree cover. It sits on an ancient deep sand basin — the remains of an old desert — covered with reddish sand that still shows its desert origins.

Climate

The Kalahari receives 150–500 mm of rain per year — enough to support vegetation but still low. Summers are hot (up to 40°C) and wet; winters are dry and cold (frost is common at night). The desert conditions worsen in the southwest, which receives less than 150 mm and is more truly desert-like.

Wildlife and plants

The Kalahari supports lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs, brown hyenas, meerkats, springbok, gemsbok, wildebeest and many more species. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is one of Africa's largest protected areas. The Kalahari lion is a distinct population known for living in a harsh environment with little surface water.

History

The Kalahari has been home to the San people (Bushmen) for at least 20,000 years — they are the descendants of some of the oldest continuous human lineages on Earth. European explorers, including David Livingstone, traversed the Kalahari in the 19th century. Botswana's government controversially relocated San communities from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in the 1990s–2000s, a decision challenged in the courts.