KALAHARI

Physical features of southern Africa. a large, basinlike plain of the interior plateau of southern Africa. It occupies almost all of Botswana, the eastern third of Namibia, and the northernmost part of Northern Cape province in South Africa. In the southwest it merges with the Namib, the coastal desert of Namibia. The Kalahari's longest northsouth extent is roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres), and its greatest eastwest distance is about 600 miles; its area has been estimated at some 360,000 square miles (930,000 square kilometres). Springbok in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, Northern Cape province, S.Af. a basin-shaped, largely sand-covered desert region in southern Africa. It lies mostly in Botswana but also occupies adjacent portions of Namibia and South Africa. The Kalahari is bounded by the headwaters of the Zambezi River to the north, the plateaus of the Transvaal and Zimbabwe to the east, the Orange River to the south, and the highlands of Namibia to the west. The appellation desert overstates the aridity of the Kalahari, which is more aptly described as a thirstland; there is no permanent surface water in this sandy but well-vegetated region, with the exception of the Boteti River and related drainages. The Boteti system is fed by a seasonal overflow from the inland deltaic Okavango Swamp. Sands of both eolian (wind) and fluviatile (river) origin mantle more than 90 percent of the region. The only landforms rising above the relatively uniform surface of the Kalahari, lying 3,000 feet (900 m) or more above sea level, are occasional residuals of older rocks that form hills in the southeast, southwest, and northwest. A major feature in the northeastern Kalahari is the Makgadikgadi (formerly Makarikari) depression, consisting of two extensive bare pan areas floored by alkaline sandy clays. Long chains of barchan dunes (crescent-shaped dunes, with the convex side facing the wind) characterize the entire western part of the Kalahari. South of the Boteti River, fossil river valleys form striking topographic features. These ancient drainage lines have pronounced valleys in their middle portions but normally degenerate into strings of shallow, grass-covered pans and flats farther into the Kalahari. The climate of the Kalahari is characterized by marked differences in seasonal temperatures and by large diurnal temperature ranges. Precipitation is local and erratic, and in winter there are commonly freezing nights. The Kalahari possesses a well-developed cover of trees, low scrub, and tussocky grasses. Close to the ground, seasonal annuals, tuberous and bulbous plants, creepers, and vines are found. Animal life is varied, and many species such as springbok, gnu (wildebeest), hartebeest, gemsbok (subspecies of oryx), eland, giraffe, zebra, and elephant exist despite the absence of surface water. When the British explorers David Livingstone and William C. Oswell first crossed the Kalahari in 1849 to find Lake Ngami, the crossing could only be accomplished by small parties using the few water holes. In 187879 a large party of Boers trekked across but lost about 250 of their number and 9,000 cattle. Motor transport has made the region much more accessible. The main human inhabitants of the sparsely populated Kalahari are Bantu-speaking Africans, a large minority of Khoisan-speaking San, and a few Europeans. The Kalahari is served by infrequent roads and tracks, most passable only by trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles; maintained roads connect administrative centres and major habitations. Area about 360,000 square miles (930,000 square km). Additional reading Early descriptions of the Kalahari include Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami (1856), an account of a four-year exploration; Siegfried Passarge, Die Kalahari (1904), a thorough study; and Heinrich Vedder, South West Africa in Early Times (1938, reissued 1966; originally published in German, 1934), a detailed history of the region to 1890. Frank Debenham, Kalahari Sand (1953), reports a modern exploring expedition. Nicholas Luard, The Last Wilderness: A Journey Across the Great Kalahari Desert (1981), describes a safari trek and includes observations about the desert's ecological balance and the peoples who live there. Karen Ross, Okavango, Jewel of the Kalahari (1987), describes this river's wildlife. Studies of the peoples of the Kalahari include Robert K. Hitchcock, Kalahari Cattle Posts, 2 vol. (1978), a general review of Bantu-speaking and San (Basarwa) inhabitants of the western Kalahari. Richard B. Lee and Irven DeVore (eds.), Kalahari Hunter-gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and Their Neighbors (1976), collects writings on various aspects of San life, mainly in the northwestern Kalahari. Richard B. Lee, The Dobe !Kung (1984); and Lorna Marshall, The !Kung of Nyae Nyae (1976), are also informative and engaging accounts. George B. Silberbauer, Hunter and Habitat in the Central Kalahari Desert (1981), provides a detailed description of the life and ecology of central Kalahari San when they lived as autonomous hunter-gatherers. Richard F. Logan George Bertrand Silberbauer