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Kalahari Desert
Kalahari by NASA World Wind 
The Kalahari Desert (shown in maroon) & Kalahari Basin (orange) 
Kalahari in Namibia 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 a 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 further 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.
ClimateDerived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning the great thirst, or the tribal word Khalagari, Kgalagadi or Kalagare (meaning "a waterless place"[1]), the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. Drainage is by dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans, and the large salt pans of the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and Etosha Pan in Namibia. However, the Kalahari is not a true desert. Parts of the Kalahari receive over 250 mm of erratic rainfall annually and are quite well vegetated; it is only truly arid in the southwest (under 175 mm of rain annually) making the Kalahari a fossil desert. Summer temperatures in the Kalahari range from 20 to 45 °C. (68 to 113°F.) The Kalahari Desert was once a much wetter place. The ancient Lake Makgadikgadi dominated the area, covering the Makgadikgadi Pan and other areas, until its final drainage some 10,000 years ago. It may have once covered as much as 80,000 km² and was approximately 30 m deep. Game reserves
A meerkat in the Kalahari 
The endangered African Wild Dog in CKGR PopulationThe 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 the 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 Bantu-speaking Tswana, Kgalagadi, and Herero, and a small number of European settlers also live in the Kalahari. Settlements within the KalahariBostwana Namibia South Africa The Kalahari desert in popular culture
See alsoNotes
External links
af:Kalahari ar:????? ??????? bn:???????? ??????? bg:???????? ca:Kalahari cs:Kalahari da:Kalahari-ørkenen de:Kalahari el:?????? ???????? es:Kalahari eo:Kalaharo eu:Kalahari fr:Désert du Kalahari fy:Kalahary gd:Kalahari gl:Kalahari ko:???? ?? is:Kalaharíeyðimörkin it:Kalahari he:?????? ka:???????? lt:Kalaharis nl:Kalahari ja:?????? no:Kalahari pl:Kalahari pt:Kalahari ro:De?ertul Kalahari qu:Kalahari ru:???????? sq:Kallahari sl:Kalahari sr:???????? fi:Kalahari sv:Kalahariöknen vi:Kalahari tr:Kalahari Çölü uk:???????? zh:?????? Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
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