Kalahari Desert Facts for Kids

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

The Kalahari in Namibia

The Kalahari Desert is a huge sandy area in southern Africa. It covers about 900,000 square kilometers (362,500 sq. miles). You can find it mostly in Botswana, but also in parts of Namibia and South Africa. After good rains, the desert has lots of great places for animals to graze.

Even though it's called a desert, much of the Kalahari isn't a "true" desert. This means it gets some rain, allowing certain animals and plants to live there. Summers are very hot. The driest parts get about 110–200 millimetres (4.3–7.9 in) of rain each year, while the wetter areas get a bit more than 500 millimetres (20 in).

The larger Kalahari Basin covers over 2.5 million square kilometers. It stretches into Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and even parts of Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The only river that flows all the time, the Okavango, creates a marshy area in the northwest. This delta is full of amazing wildlife. There are also old, dry riverbeds called omuramba. During the rainy season, these fill with water, creating temporary pools. These spots used to be popular for large wild animals like elephants and giraffes, and predators like lions and cheetahs. Today, they are mostly used for grazing, but you might still spot a leopard or cheetah.

Wildlife and Nature
The Bushmen People
Towns in the Kalahari
Images for kids
See also

Wildlife and Nature

A meerkat in the Kalahari

The Kalahari is home to several important nature areas. These include the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), which is the world's second-largest protected area, the Khutse Game Reserve, and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Many different animals live in this region. You can find brown hyenas, lions, meerkats, giraffes, warthogs, jackals, and many types of antelope. Some of the antelope include the eland, gemsbok, springbok, hartebeest, steenbok, kudu, and duiker. There are also many kinds of birds and reptiles.

The plants in the Kalahari are mostly grasses and acacia trees. But there are over 400 different plant species here! One interesting plant is the wild watermelon, also known as the Tsamma melon.

The Bushmen People

The Bushmen, also known as the San people, are native to the Kalahari. For a long time, they lived as hunter-gatherers. This means they hunted animals for meat and gathered plants and food from the desert. They did not keep farm animals. They moved from place to place to find food and water. Because they had to carry everything, they owned very few things. Today, only a small number of people around the world still live this traditional way.