The Atmosphere of the Kalahari Desert Quiz

Answer: The Great Thirst

As the Kalahari Desert is classified as a "semi desert", it receives small amounts of rainfall throughout the year. Regardless, parts of this desert are some of the driest in the African region. In the driest parts of the desert there is as little as 110 millimeters of rain per year.

Answer: Tanzania

The Kalahari Desert spans a distance of 900 000 square kilometers, touching Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The largest area it covers is in Botswana where roughly 70% of the country is located within the Kalahari Desert.

Answer: Kiwano

The kiwano belongs to the cucumber family and is found through the Kalahari Desert region. Along with the Gemsbok cucumber and the citron melon it is one of the few food items that is a source of water during the dry season (June to August). The fruit itself has horn-like spikes on the exterior and is said to taste like a combination of a passion fruit and banana.

It is typically eaten as a snack or used in salads and salsas.

Answer: Windhoek

With a population of over 325 000 people, Windhoek (while smaller in size than Gaborone, Botswana) is the only one located within the Kalahari Desert. Gabarone, with a population of over 400 000, lies on the edge of the Kalahari but is not found directly within the region. Windhoek is unique due to the amount of sunlight it receives each year, averaging just over 3600 hours per year.

In a study completed in 1993, it was estimated that Windhoek provides over 50% of the non-agricultural employment found in the country.

This employment includes transportation, communication and finance.

Answer: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

The word Kgalagadi is a Tswana word that translates to "place of thirst". Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large wildlife preserve and conservation area that spans roughly 38 000 square kilometers straddling the borders of Botswana and South Africa.

It is home to a variety of predatory mammals including the South African lion, cheetah and hyena. Other animal species that are common to the park include wildebeest, springbok and hartebeest.

Answer: Kalahari Depression

The Kalahari Depression or Kalahari Basin covers most of Botswana and parts of South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe. Within this depression are various important vegetation features including the acacia tree and the African Rosewood. The important geographical city within the basin is Windhoek, Namibia.

The lowlands are home to the Makgadikgadi Pan which is visited yearly by thousands of flamingos during the rainy season.

Answer: San

The San Peoples are also known as "Bushmen". For centuries they have provided for themselves as hunter-gatherers largely within the Kalahari Desert. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve itself houses a variety of wildlife including giraffes, elephants, hyenas, cheetahs and leopards. Since the 1990s, the Botswana government has tried to relocate the San people away from the desert claiming that they have been a drain on potential tourism and economic resources found in the reserve. By 1997, three quarters of the San peoples were relocated elsewhere by the government.

In 2008, a bush fire destroyed around 80% of the reserve.

Answer: Salt pans

The Makgadikgadi Pan is one of the largest salt flats in the world covering over 16 000 square kilometers in northeastern Botswana. When it was a lake, it is believed to have been at least the size of Switzerland. By definition, it is technically not a single "pan" but consists of multiple "pans" separated by areas of desert sand. Since the 1990s, however, this region has been threatened by both industry and human error.

The Sua Pan has had soda ash and salt extraction commercially operating since 1991.

Other parts of the Makgadikgadi Pan have been damaged due to human recreation activity that include off-roading and tourism.

Answer: Okavango River

The Botswana government has estimated that the Okavango River loses 97% of its yearly water intake through evaporation. During the wet season, Angola receives three times more rainfall than neighbouring Botswana and much of this water flows into the Okavango River causing it to triple its permanent size.

As a result, one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife in Africa occur during the wet season along the banks of the river.

Answer: False

"The Lost City of the Kalahari" is actually an historical mystery of a ruined city dating back to 1885. The mystery is believed to have originated with the presentation of a paper by Canadian William Leonard Hunt (aka The Great Farini) that outlined his experiences of crossing the Kalahari Desert. In his book "Through the Kalahari Desert: A Narrative of a Journey with Gun, Camera, and Note-book to Lake N'Gami and Back" he wrote:

"A relic, may be, of a glorious past,
A city once grand and sublime,
Destroyed by earthquake, defaced by the blast,
Swept away by the hand of time."

Various solutions to the mystery have been proposed since the 1960s but none have conclusively determined the whereabouts of this lost city.