An intoduction to the Kalahari Desert, South Africa

The Kalahari Desert gets its name from the Tswana word Kgalagadi which means the great thirst.

And for most people when they think of the word desert it makes them conjure up huge expanses of

yellow, dry sand. Furthermore very limited or no green vegetation, no flowers, and little too limited

animals, a scorpion here and there, maybe a snake, but nothing more. These animals will only be

sneaking out in the middle of the night when the temperature is cooled down to avoid the blistering

daytime heat. .

The choices of the desert you will see below, however, will give you so much more than just sand and

death. In the Kalahari, you can find lions, leopards, cheetahs, and caracals.

Many do not even know what it is or where it is located, but wow, is it worth a trip. The Kalahari

Desert is 360,000 square miles of utterly beautiful nature stretching across not only South Africa but

also Botswana and Namibia. It is a window into a world so different from mine and everything I

expected a desert to be.

If you expect to see only the vast expanses of yellow sand as far as your eye can see, however, you

will not be disappointed. You can see so much more than the dry thirst land, where no life can thrive.

Life does thrive here. More than you might think. The bush and grass of the Kalahari Desert provide

perfect shelter for at cheetah or lion to hunt and sneak within the sprinting distance of springbok or

other prey.

Beauty means something else out here. It is as simple as that. Beauty is a raw, unfiltered, survival of

the fittest and toughest competition which somehow turns out to be absolutely stunning. I never knew

red and yellow could form so many different nuances and shades. And within these red colours, you

can see a giraffe, who can go without drinking for several weeks, just by perusing various of

the different Acacia trees for liquids. It looks like there are no nutrients but somehow these beautiful

creatures know all the tricks to survive.

So what can you spot? The Kalahari is a haven for millions of migratory animals. Thousands of birds

stop here in the right seasons. On the boards of the desert, the big mammals can still be found, and

around the river area. A desert wouldn’t be a desert without scorpions, and you can find them here.

These are true desert-dwellers, but like all other wild animals, be aware be cautions and take care.

I was breath taken by day and even more by night when the stars came out and the temperature came

down. Suddenly I could be shaking from chill while staring up at that sky.

Looking at the Milky Way from the Kalahari Desert is the most extraordinary and beautiful thing to

cast your eye on. When you discover the stars from the middle of nowhere in the desert while lying

on your bag on a blanket you understand how small you really are. And you can’t help but wonder if

there is anything out there, somewhere, as beautiful and wonderful at the planet and nature all around

us. I’m not kidding I “Men in blacked” the shit out of my experience.

And not everything is dead. Far from actually. The Kalahari Desert is not a desert in the strictest

sense of the word. The Kalahari actually supports more animals and plants than a true desert.

Especially during the wet season where flowers and life blossoms in its most beautiful form. The dry

season lasts eight months or more, and the wet season from less than one month to four months.

Sounds beautiful? Trust me, it is!

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