June 1: Cry of the Kalahari

For those of you that are following my travel posts closely, I am giving you a vacation from me and my travel blog for the next 6 days. I am heading into the very remote Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) for the next 5 nights and 6 days and this is going to be dark sky country, and I mean really dark sky country as there will be zero, and I mean zero, light polution and of course no cellular service. So, no I haven’t forgotten you and no I haven’t been eaten by a lion or trampled by an elephant – I hope – I am just out in the middle of the desert.

I’m sure that I am going to have a lot to say and show you when I come out of the CKGR so I am going give you the overview of the CKGR in this post. I have wanted to visit the CKGR ever since reading “Cry of the Kalahari” by Mark and Delia Owens, published in 1992. The Kalahari desert is the second largest desert in Africa, after the Sahara, and occupies almost all of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. The GKGR, established in 1961 is absolutely huge (20,368 sq. mi.), and covers a large portion of south-central Botswana. I believe it is the 2^nd largest reserve in the world and by far the most remote reserve in southern Africa, and it is home to rhino, black-maned lion and desert-adapted elephants among other striking desert-adapted species.

The land is mostly flat, and gently undulating covered with large open grasslands and semi-arid shrub savannah and scrub covering sand dunes, and scattered areas of acacia and Terminalia trees. The Kalahari is essentially a huge basin of sand as much as 200 feet deep in most areas, hence all the sparse precipitation percolates into the sandy substrate, leaving no surface waters, excepted in isolated pans. Despite the sandy soils, much of the surface is covered with desert-adapted vegetation – so don’t think Sahara sand dunes, except in the far western portion of the Kalahari in Namibia where the precipitation rate is much lower. Many of the river valleys are fossilized with salt pans, including Deception Valley where I will be camping for the next 5 nights. These fossil riverbeds mark the positions of rivers which once drained into ancient Lake Makgadikgadi (more on this at my next destination). Pans and shallow depressions periodically containing water are widespread in the CKGR. These pans often appear “white” due to the salts that accumulate over time on the surface. If the water cannot drain into the ground fast enough, which happens in deserts where the evaporation rate exceeds the precipitation rate, it remains on the surface until it evaporates, leaving behind minerals precipitated from the salt ions dissolved in the water. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface. These minerals reflect the sun’s rays (through radiation) and often appear as white areas. Note, during the wet season these pans typically contain water and are important feeding areas for lots of birds and other wildlife.

In addition, the Kalahari is home to the San people (or “Bushman”), an ancient hunter-gatherer society that have transcended the ages with their excellent hunting skills and ability to adapt to the harsh environmental challenges presented by this enormous desert. The San, have inhabited the lands for thousands of years since they roamed the area as nomadic hunters. Unfortunately, the San have suffered the fate of so many indigenous peoples around the world. Since the mid-1990s the Botswana government has tried to relocate the San from the CKGR, claiming they were a drain on financial resources despite revenues from tourism. In 1997, three quarters of the entire San population were relocated from the Reserve, and in October 2005 the government had resumed the forced relocation into resettlement camps outside of the park leaving only about 250 permanent occupiers. In 2006, a Botswana court proclaimed the eviction illegal and affirmed the Bushmen’s right to return to living in the Reserve. However, as of 2015 most Bushmen are blocked from access to their traditional lands in the Reserve. A nationwide ban on hunting made it illegal for the Bushmen to practice their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle, despite allowing private game ranches to provide hunting opportunities for tourists. Is the displacement of the San driven by economic interests of the private and government-owned corporations? Coincidentally, in 2014, a diamond mine called Ghaghoo operated by Gem Diamonds opened in the southeast portion of the reserve. The company estimated that the mine could yield $4.9 billion worth of diamonds. So, the ancestral rights of the native San people to live as they choose, or diamonds? Sound familiar?

OK, that’s a little background on the central Kalahari and the CKGR so that you can ponder the desert expanse that I will be in for the next 6 days. It should be wild! See you in a week!