Kalahari Desert

Kalahari Desert, a region of South Africa, lying mainly between 20° and 28° S. and 19° and 24° E., and covering fully 120,000 sq. m. The greater part of this territory forms the western portion of the (British) Bechuanaland protectorate, but it extends south into that part of Bechuanaland annexed to the Cape and west into German South-West Africa. The Orange river marks its southern limit; westward it reaches to the foot of the Nama and Damara hills, eastward to the cultivable parts of Bechuanaland, northward and north-westward to the valley of the Okavango and the bed of Lake Ngami. The Kalahari, part of the immense inner table-land of South Africa, has an average elevation of over 3000 ft. with a general slope from east to west and a dip northward to Ngami. Described by Robert Moffat as “the southern Sahara,” the Kalahari resembles the great desert of North Africa in being generally arid and in being scored by the beds of dried-up rivers. It presents however many points of difference from the Sahara. The surface soil is mainly red sand, but in places limestone overlies shale and conglomerates. The ground is undulating and its appearance is comparable with that of the ocean at times of heavy swell. The crests of the waves are represented by sand dunes, rising from 30 to 100 ft.; the troughs between the dunes vary greatly in breadth. On the eastern border long tongues of sand project into the veld, while the veld in places penetrates far into the desert. There are also, and especially along the river beds, extensive mud flats. After heavy rain these become pans or lakes, and water is then also found in mud-bottomed pools along the beds of the rivers. The water in the pans is often brackish, and in some cases thickly encrusted with salt. Pans also occur in crater-like depressions where rock rises above the desert sands. A tough, sun-bleached grass, growing knee-high in tufts at intervals of about 15 in., covers the dunes and gives the general colour of the landscape. Considerable parts of the Kalahari, chiefly in the west and north, are however covered with dense scrub and there are occasional patches of forest. Next to the lack of water the chief characteristics of the desert are the tuberous and herbaceous plants and the large numbers of big game found in it. Of the plants the most remarkable is the water-melon, of which both the bitter and sweet variety are found, and which supplies both man and beast with water. The game includes the lion, leopard, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, buffalo, zebra, quagga, many kinds of antelope (among them the kudu and gnu), baboon and ostrich. The elephant, giraffe and eland are also found. The hunting of these three last-named animals is prohibited, and for all game there is a close time from the beginning of September to the end of February.

The climate is hot, dry and healthy, save in the neighbourhood of the large marshes in the north, where malarial fever is prevalent. In this region the drainage is N.E. to the great Makarikari marsh and the Botletle, the river connecting the marsh with the Ngami system. In the south the drainage is towards the Orange. The Molopo and the Kuruman, which in their upper course in eastern Bechuanaland are perennial streams, lose their water by evaporation and percolation on their way westward through the Kalahari. The Molopo, a very imposing river on the map, is dry in its lower stretches. The annual rainfall does not exceed 10 in. It occurs in the summer months, September to March, and chiefly in thunderstorms. The country is suffering from progressive desiccation, but there is good evidence of an abundant supply of water not far beneath the surface. In the water-melon season a few white farmers living on the edge of the desert send their herds thither to graze. Such few spots as have been under cultivation by artificial irrigation yield excellent returns to the farmer; but the chief commercial products of the desert are the skins of animals.