The wildlife found in the Kalahari Desert has to be able to survive the arid conditions. The wetter north has a richer and greater variety of wildlife than the dryer south. Arid-adapted game includes springbok, gemsbok oryx , wildebeest , kudu , steenbok and duiker. The Kalahari is home to desert specialties such as meerkat, bat-eared foxes, cape fox and brown hyena. One of the more unexpected Kalahari Desert facts is that all three African big cats can be found here — cheetah , leopard and the famous black-maned Kalahari lions.
Birdlife includes the secretary bird , Kori bustard, ostrich and a variety of birds of prey, including the martial eagle, giant eagle owl, falcons, goshawks, kestrels and kites. The landscape is dotted with huge nests of sociable weavers, built precariously on trees and telegraph poles.
Many reptiles also live in the Kalahari, including Cape cobras, puff adders, and numerous lizard species. Remarkably some amphibians are also able to survive here, including the bushveld rain frog and the tremolo sand frog. It is incredible to hear the frog chorus commence as soon as the rains arrive. The dryer south-western Kalahari Desert has few trees or large bushes—just scattered drought-tolerant shrubs and grass tussocks.
Hoodia cactus grow here, used for thousands of years by the San people to ease hunger and thirst. Other edible plants found here include tsamma melons and gemsbok cucumbers — used by both animals and humans.
The central Kalahari, with more rain, has scattered trees several species of Acacia and more shrubs and grasses. In the wetter north and east, there are woodlands mainly made up of camelthorn acacias. Endemic to the Kalahari, the camelthorn is a crucial part of the desert ecosystem, producing nutrients that encourage other plants to grow around its base and providing shade for animals.
Other trees that grow in this area include shepherd's tree, blackthorn and silver cluster-leaf. The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah. Even where the Kalahari "desert" is dry enough to qualify as a desert in the sense of having low precipitation, it is not strictly speaking a desert because the ground cover is too dense. The Kalahari is the southernmost desert in Africa. It is the sixth biggest desert by area on Earth and the second biggest in Africa after the Sahara.
In the southwest it merges with the Namib , the coastal desert of Namibia. SafariBookings is the largest online marketplace for African safari tours.
Easily compare offers from 3, specialized tour operators. Make decisions like a pro by using our 63, reviews and destination guides. More About Us. This arid hotspot surprisingly supports a diverse number of plants and animals, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.
Namibia is home to a unique population of elephants that have adapted to the arid, and sometimes inhospitable, climate. The Namib-Karoo-Kaokoveld desert region covers an area of ,km 2 or ,00 square miles. Some 3, species of plants are found here, about half of which are endemic. Namib means "vast" in the Nama language.
Existing for at least 55 million years, the Namib is one of the oldest deserts in the world. Some of the world's tallest sand dunes over m are found in the Namib Desert. Archive Content Please note: This page has been archived and its content may no longer be up-to-date. Toggle navigation. Language English. Amazingly there are animals, insects and plants that reside in this beautiful, yet mostly inhospitable region of the world. One of its most unusual inhabitants, the Welwitschia, is a shrub-like plant that grows just two long, strap-shaped leaves continuously throughout its lifetime.
It is believed that they are very long-lived, possibly living years or more. Some individuals may be more than years old. The Kalahari Desert - A geological wonder, the Kalahari Desert is part of the huge sand basin that reaches from the Orange River up to Angola, in the west to Namibia and in the east to Zimbabwe.
The sand masses of wind-shaped sand that are so common in the Kalahari landscape were created by the erosion of soft stone formations.
Thanks to vegetation in the area, the dunes were stabilized 10, to 20, years ago. Strangely enough, the grasses, thorny shrubs and Acacia trees can survive long drought periods of more than 10 months a year.
Animals that live in the region include brown hyena, lion, meerkat, several species of antelope, and many types of birds and reptiles. Eyes on Africa , an African safari company, boasts an extremely knowledgeable team of staff members, who are passionate about every aspect of travel to Africa, including its wildlife and safari destinations.
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