Kalahari << `kah` luh HAHR ee >> Desert is a large, dry sandy basin that covers about 190,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers) in southern Africa. It spreads across much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
Like a typical desert, the Kalahari has vast areas of waterless ground surface covered by red sands and hundreds of sand dunes. However, some scientists do not consider the Kalahari a true desert. According to some definitions, a true desert receives less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rainfall annually. But many parts of the Kalahari sometimes receive more than that amount of rain. Summer temperatures in the Kalahari average 68 to 86 °F (20 to 30 °C). In winter, the Kalahari has a dry, cold climate with frosts at night. The average low winter temperature can drop below 40 °F (4 °C).
The Kalahari is one of Africa’s last wildlife paradises. Animals that live in the region include brown hyenas, lions, meerkats, several species of antelope, and many types of birds and reptiles. Vegetation in the Kalahari consists of dry grassland and scrubby acacias. Grasses thrive in the Kalahari during the summer rainy season.
African people known as the San (or Bushmen) were the first known human inhabitants of the Kalahari. Their survival skills and adaptation to the harsh Kalahari wilderness have become legendary. Today, only a small number of the San follow their traditional way of life in the Kalahari. See San.
Modern civilization is threatening the natural resources of the Kalahari. Mineral companies have discovered large coal, copper, and nickel deposits in the region. In addition, one of the largest diamond mines in the world is located at Orapa in the Makgadikgadi, a depression of the northeastern Kalahari.
