Kalahari Desert

Kalahari Desert, a vast tract of country lying between Great Namaqualand and Bechuanaland, in South Africa, extending from the Gariep or Orange River northwards to 21° S. lat., or the verge of the Ngami region, a distance of nearly 600 miles, with an average breadth of about 350 miles. Although called a desert, it is not entirely such as that name implies. The region is an elevated basin, 3000 to 4000 feet high, with numerous depressions, and bordered in most parts by a wide belt of sandy waterless country. But the rainfall in the interior is sufficient to nourish a fair amount of vegetation. Many parts are thickly covered with high, thorny bushes, which harbour large quantities of game. The inhabitants, called Bakalahari, keep cattle and grow corn, and live by these and by the chase. Wandering Bushmen are also found in the 'desert.' See Farini, Across the Kalahari Desert (1886).