Kalahari Desert Holidays

Often overshadowed by the famous Namib Desert, the Kalahari is a wonder in its own right. Covering 900,000 square kilometres, it’s the world’s largest coherent sand plain, its shifting carpet of sand spreading into Angola and Zimbabwe. Higher rainfall in the Kalahari brings with it more vegetation, the yellow-gold carpet peppered with spiky cacti and saucer-topped acacia trees that provide shade for lazing lions. Desert-dwelling animals abound, from meerkat mobs to basking reptiles and springbok, ostriches and nocturnal aardwolves. Traverse the wide, parallel dunes in a 4×4 to get a taste of the Kalahari’s unique charms.

Namibia’s bushmen, the San people, have traversed the Kalahari for thousands of years, stalking game with spears and foraging for edible desert plants. The original custodians of this sand-covered land, they’re descendants of earth’s oldest people and have a distinctive clicking language and semi-nomadic lifestyle. Today, you can still meet the San people as you traverse the Kalahari, taking ethical guided visits to their villages, where you can learn from them how to make fire and identify the desert’s medicinal plants.

Want to visit the Kalahari? Talk to our Namibia team, who can arrange stays in comfortable lodges, San cultural visits and desert excursions.