Difference between revisions of "Kalahari Desert" - New World Encyclopedia

Revision as of 00:45, 2 April 2007

The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Africa extending 900,000 km², covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains.^[1] The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2.5 million km² extending farther 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.

The Kalahari Desert (shown in maroon) & Kalahari Basin (orange)

Climate

Derived from the Tswana word Keir, meaning the great thirst, or the tribal word Khalagari or Kalagare (meaning "a waterless place"^[1]), the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red-brown sands 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 south-west (under 175 mm of rain annually) making the Kalahari a fossil desert. Summer temperatures in the Kalahari range from 20 to 40 °C. In winter, the Kalahari has a dry, cold climate with frosts at night. The low winter temperature can average below 0 °C. In addition, this desert was the setting for the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy."

Game reserves

A meerkat in the Kalahari

The endangered African Wild Dog in CKGR

The Kalahari has a number of game reserves - the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), the world's second largest protected area); Khutse Game Reserve; and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Animals that live in the region include brown hyenas, lions, meerkats, several species of antelope (including the oryx or gemsbok), and many species of birds and reptiles. Vegetation in the Kalahari consists mainly of grasses and acacias but there are over 400 identified plant species present (including the wild watermelon or tsamma melon).

For seven years, Mark and Delia Owens lived in tents, and studied a pristine wilderness and its inhabitants. They did landmark research on black-maned Kalahari lions and the elusive brown hyena. After surviving violent storms, wildfires, and 120-degree heat during their research, they chronicled their findings in their book Cry of the Kalahari.

Ancestral land

The area is the ancestral land of the Bushmen (San) peoples. There are many distinct tribes, and they have no collective name for themselves. The names San and Basarwa are sometimes used, but the people themselves dislike these names (San is a Khoikhoi word meaning outsider, and Basarwa a Herero word meaning person who has nothing) and prefer the name "Bushman". Their language, Khoisan, is a language of clicks. The name bushmen was given to them by early settlers who may have named them for the fact they live in the bush or it might have been given because of their use of aromatic spices collected from various bushes. They are thought to have been the first human inhabitants of Southern Africa; there is evidence that they have been living there continuously as nomadic hunter-gatherers for over twenty thousand years.

The Bushmen were first brought to the Western world's attention in the 1950s when South African author Laurens van der Post published his famous book The Lost World of the Kalahari, which was also turned into a BBC TV series. This and other later works about the Kalahari prompted the British colonial authorities to create the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 1961 to preserve the Bushmen and the wildlife. After independence, Botswana provided food, water, and medical care to them, but eventually they began raising goats and planting crops. Wildlife officials were concerned about the impact on the environment and thegovernment balked at providing services to remote villages. About three thousand of the estimated hundred thousand remaining Bushmen moved into settlements.

Some two hundred, however, sued the government of Botswana for the right to return to their homeland, and the High Court ruled in December 2006 that the Bushmen are entitled to live and hunt on their ancestral lands. However, it placed limits on what they could take with them. They cannot bring domesticated animals with them or build permanent structures. Hunters will have to apply for permits. And only those named in the original lawsuit may return.

Natural resources

Minerals

There are large coal, copper, nickel, and uranium deposits in the region. One of the largest diamond mines in the world is located at Orapa in the Makgadikgadi, North-Eastern Kalahari. Pomfret, on the edge of the desert, has asbestos in the subsoil and a shuttered asbestos mine.^[2]

Diamond mining

The overseas campaign group Survival International say the real reason for the re-settlement of Bushmen by the Botswana government is to free up the land for diamond mining, especially in the area of Orapa, the diamond capital of the country. But the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, Ditshwanelo, disputes this, claiming that the government is being altruistic but misguided.

Plants

As one might expect from a unique landscape such as the Kalahari desert, it contains many unique plants. Add to this the aeons old experience and knowledge of the San or Bushman and you have a wealth of botanical medicines that can and have been exploited, both historically and at present.

The great value of Devil’s claw or Harpagophytum, as a natural medicine was learned by the Germans (from the Bushmen) during the last century. This has resulted in a multi-million dollar international industry, which has incidentally led to the local extinction of the plant in many areas. Sad to say, the San or Bushman did not see a dime of all this money. The latest wonder medicine to come from the Kalhari, is “Hoodia”, the miracle “Bushman solution to appetite control”. The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) discovered the valuable properties of this plant in the 1970’s and extracted and tested a miracle ingredient which was later dubbed “P75”. Besides being an almost ideal appetite supressor, P75 had several other valuable medical properties.

The Kalahari was first crossed to Lake Ngami by David Livingstone, accompanied by William C. Oswell, in 1849. In 1878-1879 a party of Boers, with about three hundred wagons, trekked from the Transvaal across the Kalahari to Ngami and thence to the hinterland of Angola. Many of the party, men, women and children, perished of thirst during the journey. Survivors stated that in all some 250 people and 9000 cattle died.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

"Court victory proves hollow for Bushmen," Washington Times, January 18, 2007.

External links

Credits

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Kalahari Desert ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "Kalahari Desert"

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↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Mary Sadler-Altena, "Kalahari: Introduction" webpage: Template:Dlw: Kalahari name/climate/reserves and history.
↑ South Africa - Pomfret. abc.net. Retrieved 2007-01-03.

[SAltena-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Mary Sadler-Altena, "Kalahari: Introduction" webpage: Template:Dlw: Kalahari name/climate/reserves and history.

[2] South Africa - Pomfret. abc.net. Retrieved 2007-01-03.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 ==Ancestral land==
 <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:Kun san.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A Bushman in the Kalahari]] —>
-The area is the ancestral land of the [[Bushmen]] (San) peoples. There are many distinct tribes, and they have no collective name for themselves. The names ''San'' and ''Basarwa'' are sometimes used, but the people themselves dislike these names (''San'' is a Khoikhoi word meaning ''outsider'', and ''Basarwa'' a Herero word meaning ''person who has nothing'') and prefer the name "Bushman".  Their language, Khoisan, is a language of clicks. The name bushmen was given to them by early settlers who may have named them for the fact they live in the bush or it might have been given because of their use of aromatic spices collected from various bushes. They are thought to have been the first human inhabitants of Southern Africa; there is evidence that they have been living there continuously as nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]]s for at least 22,000 years.
+The area is the ancestral land of the [[Bushmen]] (San) peoples. There are many distinct tribes, and they have no collective name for themselves. The names ''San'' and ''Basarwa'' are sometimes used, but the people themselves dislike these names (''San'' is a Khoikhoi word meaning ''outsider'', and ''Basarwa'' a Herero word meaning ''person who has nothing'') and prefer the name "Bushman".  Their language, Khoisan, is a language of clicks. The name bushmen was given to them by early settlers who may have named them for the fact they live in the bush or it might have been given because of their use of aromatic spices collected from various bushes. They are thought to have been the first human inhabitants of Southern Africa; there is evidence that they have been living there continuously as nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]]s for over twenty thousand years.
-The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert were first brought to the Western world's attention in the 1950s when South African author [[Laurens van der Post]] published his most famous work ''The Lost World of the Kalahari'', which was also turned into a [[BBC]] TV series. This and other later works about the Kalahari prompted the creation of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 1961 to preserve the Bushmen and their homeland.
+The Bushmen were first brought to the Western world's attention in the 1950s when South African author [[Laurens van der Post]] published his famous book ''The Lost World of the Kalahari'', which was also turned into a [[BBC]] TV series. This and other later works about the Kalahari prompted the British colonial authorities to create the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 1961 to preserve the Bushmen and the wildlife. After independence, Botswana provided food, water, and medical care to them, but eventually  they began raising goats and planting crops. Wildlife officials were concerned about the impact on the environment and thegovernment balked at providing services to remote villages. About three thousand of the estimated hundred thousand remaining Bushmen moved into settlements.
-The majority of Bushmen were placed in settlements in the 1980s, ostensibly to protect the reserve and to provide a better lifestyle for them. Some, however, sued the government of Botswana for the right to return to their homeland, and the supreme court granted them the right to return in 2007.
+Some two hundred, however, sued the government of Botswana for the right to return to their homeland, and the High Court ruled in December 2006 that the Bushmen are entitled to live and hunt on their ancestral lands. However, it placed limits on what they could take with them. They cannot bring  domesticated animals with them or build permanent structures. Hunters will have to apply for permits.
+And only those named in the original lawsuit may return.
 ==Natural resources==
@@ Line 37: / Line 38: @@
 The great value of Devil’s claw or Harpagophytum, as a natural medicine was learned by the Germans (from the Bushmen) during the last century. This has resulted in a multi-million dollar international industry, which has incidentally led to the local extinction of the plant in many areas. Sad to say, the San or Bushman did not see a dime of all this money. The latest wonder medicine to come from the Kalhari, is “Hoodia”, the miracle “Bushman solution to appetite control”. The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) discovered the valuable properties of this plant in the 1970’s and extracted and tested a miracle ingredient which was later dubbed “P75”. Besides being an almost ideal appetite supressor, P75 had several other valuable medical properties.
-<!--1911 content, to be merged in:
+The Kalahari was first crossed to Lake Ngami by David Livingstone, accompanied by William C. Oswell, in 1849. In 1878-1879 a party of Boers, with about three hundred wagons, trekked from the Transvaal across the Kalahari to Ngami and thence to the hinterland of Angola. Many of the party, men, women and children, perished of thirst during the journey. Survivors stated that in all some 250 people and 9000 cattle died.
-ghdzlkhjkdhjjkzdhl;ldfhalnfhfgnjsdnff.ngfrica, 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 Moff 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 ioo 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 fiats. 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 color 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 neighborhood 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.
+==References==
+* "Court victory proves hollow for Bushmen," ''Washington Times'', January 18, 2007.
-The Kalahari is the home of wandering Bushmen (~.v.), who live entirely by the chase, killing their prey with poisoned arrows, of Ba-Kalahari, and along the western border of Hottentots, who are both hunters and cattle-rearers. The Ba-Kalahari (men of the Kalahari), who constitute the majority of the inhabitants, appear to belong to the Batau tribe of the Bechuanas, now no longer having separate tribal existence, and traditionally reported to be the oldest of the Bechuana tribes. Their features are markedly negroid, though their skin is less.black than that of many negro peoples. They have thin legs and arms. The Ba-Kalahari are said to have possessed enormous herds of large horned cattle until deprived of them and driven into the desert by a fresh migration of more powerful Bechuana tribes. Unlike the Bushmen, and in spite of desert life, the Ba-Kalahari have a true passion for agriculture and cattle-breeding. They carefully cultivate their gardens, though in many cases all they can grow is a scanty supply of melons and pumpkins, and they rear small herds of goats. They are also clever hunters, and from the neighboring Bechuana chiefs obtain spears, knives, tobacco and dogs in exchange for the skins of the animals they kill. In disposition they are peaceful to timidity, grave and almost morose. Livingstone states that he never saw Ba-Kalahari children at play. An ingenious method is employed to obtain water where there is no open well or running stream. To one end of a reed about 2 ft. long a bunch of grass is tied, and this end of the reed is inserted in a hole dug at a spot where water is known to exist underground, the wet sand being rammed down firmly round it. An ostrich egg-shell, the usual water vessel, is placed on the ground alongside the reed. The water-drawer, generally a woman, then sucks up the water through the reed, dexterously squirting it into the adjacent egg-shell. To aid her aim she places between her lips a straw, the other end of which is inserted in the shell. The shells, when filled, are buried, the object of the Ba-Kalahari being to preserve their supplies from any sudden raid by Bushmen or other foe. Early travellers stated that no amount of bullying or hunting in a BaKalahari village would result in a find of water; but that on friendly relations being established the natives would bring a supply, however arid the district. The British government has since sunk wells in one or two districts. Though the Ba Kalahari have no religion in the strict sense of the word, they show traces of totemism, and as Batau, i.e. men of the lion, revere rather than fear that beast.
-The Kalahari was first crossed to Lake Ngami by David Livingstone, accompanied by William C. Oswell, in 1849. In 1878-1879 a party of Boers, with about three hundred wagons, trekked from the Transvaal across the Kalahari to Ngami and thence to the hinterland of Angola. Many of the party, men, women and children, perished of thirst during the journey. Survivors stated that in all some 250 people and 9000 cattle died. The Kalhari desert is red.To this day it is still there.It would be a great place to visit, just watch for animals!
-—>
-==Notes==
-<references/>
 ==External links==
@@ Line 61: / Line 51: @@
 *[http://www.kalahari-desert.com Destination information about the Kalahari Desert.]
-{{Deserts}}
-{{coor title dm|23|00|S|23|00|E|}}
-[[Category:Deserts of Botswana]]
+[[Category:Deserts]]
-[[Category:Deserts of Namibia]]
+[[Category:Africa]]
-[[Category:Deserts of South Africa]]
+[[Category:Nations and places]]
-[[Category:Historical continents]]
-[[Category:Ergs]]
-[[af:Kalahari]]
-[[bn:কালাহারি মরুভূমি]]
-[[ca:Kalahari]]
-[[da:Kalahari-ørkenen]]
-[[de:Kalahari]]
-[[es:Kalahari]]
-[[eo:Kalaharo]]
-[[fr:Désert du Kalahari]]
-[[is:Kalaharíeyðimörkin]]
-[[it:Kalahari]]
-[[he:קלהארי]]
-[[lt:Kalaharis]]
-[[nl:Kalahari]]
-[[ja:カラハリ砂漠]]
-[[no:Kalahari]]
-[[pl:Kalahari]]
-[[pt:Kalahari]]
-[[ro:Deşertul Kalahari]]
-[[ru:Калахари]]
-[[sl:Kalahari]]
-[[sr:Калахари]]
-[[fi:Kalahari]]
-[[sv:Kalahariöknen]]
-[[vi:Kalahari]]
-[[tr:Kalahari Çölü]]
-[[zh:喀拉哈里沙漠]]
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