Kalahari Region, South Africa

Kalahari Region : Traveller's Overview Category : Desert Destinations

The Kalahari Desert is a large arid desert in southwestern Sub-Saharan Africa, or as it is also known, Kgalagadi Africa. The Kalahari is derived from this word ‘kgalagadi’, which in Tswana means ‘the great thirst’. The Kalahari Desert occupies central and southwestern Botswana, as well as parts of west central South Africa and eastern Namibia.

Mostly flat with an average elevation of about 1 000 metres above sea level, the sands of the Kalahari vary from red and brown to white in places. Where the sands are elevated, they run in parallel lines of dunes - typically from north to south or nothwest to southeast (depending on the winds) - and vary in height from about six metres to some 60 metres. Some of these dunes have been known to stretch 80 kilometres in length.

The Kalahari Desert has a semi-arid climate, and although the rainfall does vary, the region on average receives roughly 200 mm of rainfall a year - usually between the months of October and May.
The only permanent surface water in the Kalahari is the Boteti River which flows out of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. When the rains are heavy in central Angola this causes period flooding of the Delta and the Boteti River carries the overflow of water east into Lake Xau and the Makgadikgadi Pans on the northeastern fringe of the desert.

Daytime temperatures vary between 35 degrees to 45 degrees from October to May, the hottest months of the year.