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Back to Africa Landmarks - The Kalahari Desert

	The Kalahari Desert, located in Southern Africa, has a total area of 100,000 sq. miles/259,000 sq. km. The desert lies within the Kalahari Basin and spreads across parts of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The Kalahari Basin is expanding into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The vegetation of the Kalahari Desert includes trees, scrubs and dry grasslands that have adapted to the unpredictable rainfall common to this area. A variety of wildlife can be found in this region, specifically in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Although this desert is covered by sand dunes, similar to the Sahara Desert, some believe that it is not a true desert due to the overall amount of rainfall it receives.
Because of its unreliable rainfall and somewhat dry conditions, the Kalahari Desert remains sparsely populated. The Basarwa or San people are known as the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert for over hundreds of years. They continue to live in settlements within and around the desert and are still traditional in their lifestyle.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.southafrica-travel.net/kalahari/e6kala05.htm http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9368843/Kalahari-Desert http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/kalahari.htm http://www.kalahari-desert.com/destination_bushmen.asp
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