Kalahari Desert Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia and regions of South Africa. "Kalahari" is derived from the Tswana word "Kgala", meaning "the great thirst", or "Kgalagadi", meaning "a waterless place"; the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. Drainage of the desert is by dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans and the large salt pans of the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and Etosha Pan in Namibia. The only permanent river, the Okavango, flows into a delta in the
Sands of the Kalahari of Kalahari". Baker persuaded his childhood friend Richard Burton to star along with his wife Elizabeth Taylor, but Taylor was reluctant to film in Africa and demanded more money than Levine was interested in paying. Burton pulled out and George Peppard and Susannah York were cast instead. However shortly after filming commenced, Peppard left the project (probably for "The Blue Max"), and Stuart Whitman was flown in as a replacement. The film was shot on location in the Kalahari Desert, with studio work done at Shepperton Studios in London. Sands of the Kalahari Sands of the Kalahari is a 1965