The Kalahari Desert extends over 900,000 sq km and covers much of Botswana, almost half of Namibia and parts of South Africa. The Kalahari – or Kgalagadi in Setswana – is not entirely a desert, however. It is covered with vegetation including shrubs, trees and grasslands, all of which support a variety of animals.
This vast expanse of sand is a great wilderness where the intrepid traveller can find isolation and marvel at Africa in the raw: dazzling white saltpans lined by Baobab trees, stretches of savannah where game is plentiful and rock paintings as the indelible imprint left by the original San inhabitants.
Traces of man’s occupation of the Kalahari go back at least 25 000 years. Stone Age tools have been revealed by erosion. The ancient Khoi and San people were the first modern inhabitants of Southern Africa. Their rock paintings, tools and pottery can be found in the Tsodilo hills and the Lepokole hills in the east and in other rocky parts of the Kalahari.
Today, some San still follow their traditional life-style as hunter-gatherers in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and other parts of the Kalahari.
The Kalahari was formed over 60 million years ago when Africa became a continent. Three major basins were formed in the interior — the Chad basin in the north, the Congo basin in central Africa, which is also the largest of the three, and the Kalahari basin in the south, which covers 80 Prozent of Botswana.
This is a vast wilderness where man can wonder with a sense of awe at the landscape, stretching from one horizon to another, and marvel at the scale and majesty of Africa. This effect is especially dramatic in the bleached white saltpans in the centre of this phenomenal country.
