Kalahari Desert, Botswana

The Kalahari Desert is a vast- semi desert that covers about 3/4 of the western part of Botswana, in southern Africa stretching from South Africa through Namibia, into Angola and comprising the entire western and central regions of Botswana. It is one of the largest areas of semi-desert in the world.
It’s characterized by heavy sands to the golden-sand dunes, with shrubs, acacia, open grasslands and horizon less landscapes. It was habitat to the San people, a semi-nomadic people who were specialist hunters and gathers some of whom even still live in the desert today.
The Kalahari came into existence over 60 million years ago with the formation of the African continent. Three major basins were formed in the interior -the Chad basin (north), the Congo basin (central) that is the largest of the three, and the Kalahari basin (south) which takes up 80% of the earth surface of Botswana.
In the millions of years following, the basin turned into a vast super lake. Later it progressively dried out and filled up with wind blown sand, debris and fossils. The Kalahari at present is not the popular image of a desert of undulating sand dunes. Though the whole basin is sandy with dunes in abundance in neighboring Namibia, Botswana is dominantly covered in bush, trees and grasses growing precariously on the barren, sandy soils. Conditions are arid and rainfall is low. Plants and natural world are precariously balanced in an eternal struggle for survival.
Roots of man’s occupation of the Kalahari date over 25,000 years back as far as the Stone Age era revealed by erosion and the Kalahari winds. The Khoi (Hottentot) and the San (Bushmen) were the first contemporary settlers in southern Africa, whose rock paintings, tools and stoneware can be traced in the Tsodilo and Lepokole hills east of the Kalahari rocky parts. Today, their present population has however dwindled, although some Bush men still live and follow their traditional way of life as hunter-gatherers in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Since the ground stands unsuitable for agriculture, it remains practically untouched year in year out. It is still a vast wilderness where man can wonder with fear at the empty 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 the country.
The Kalahari Desert is one of the premier wildlife destinations in Botswana and Africa as in whole. The region had previously been devastated as a result of over cultivating with little regard for the environment, and as a result, the very essence of the authentic Africa it once was had been almost completely destroyed. It provides an eye-catching spot for ecotourism as visitors are able to experience the unique spirit of the Kalahari Desert while also being exposed to the projects and ongoing commitments to ‘restore the Kalahari to it.
For the more adventurous, Kalahari is another region beaming with scenic and endless vastness. There are over four national parks in the Kalahari with a couple of other conservation areas that help protect the delicate eco-systems. For a memorable Kalahari tour do not miss the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park or Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Nature also provides cover itself since game is most ample after rains. There are hundreds of springbok and gemsbok especially in the first months of the year as a result of rains followed by cheetah and lions for you to see on a single Botswana travel here. Most experienced safari travelers fancy traveling between February and April when it can be wet. Later in the year driving conditions improve when the land dries out.