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
Kalahari Craton by accretion and had formed a Proto-Kalahari Craton by 1.75 Ga. During the period 1.4–1.0 Ga subduction occurred along the northwest margin followed by continental collisions along the eastern and southern margins. By this time enough Mesoproterozoic crust had accreted to transform the Kalahari Craton. At 1.11 Ga, during the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia, the Kalahari Craton was affected by the Umkondo-Borg Large Igneous Province. At 1.15–.98 Ga the Kalahari Craton collided with the eastern margin of Laurentia. Kalahari Craton The Kalahari Craton is a craton, an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, that occupies large portions