Kalahari

The Kalahari is a vast semi-desert that covers more than tree quaters of the whole land area of Botswana. It is a great wilderness where the interepid traveller can find isolation and marvel at pristine Africa. It covers a vast area, including the dazzling white saltpans under the baobab trees and savannah where the game is plentiful. The original San inhabintants, some of whom still live in the desert today, have left their indelible imprint.

The word Kalahari is an Anglicised corruption of the Setswana name Kgalagadi. It is one of the largest areas of semi-desert in the world.

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 and the largest of the three, the Kalahari basin, in the south, which covers 80% of the land surface of Botswana. The Khoi (Hottentot) and the San (Bushmen) 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, their present population has dwindled, but some San still live and follow their traditional lifestyle as hunter-gatherers in teh Central Kalahari Game Reserve and other parts of the Kalahari.