Beyond the gray plains of pebble, in northwestern South Africa, land is slightly inclined to lay open one of the timeless masterpieces of nature: a large  old sand appearing as a baked apricot, which stretches like forever. This is the Kalahari, a vast territory on the African plateau. Surreal beautiful in its immensity, prehistoric culture and structure, the Kalahari Desert covers almost the whole Bostwana, continuing to the west in Namibia and north in Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe. People who live here call it Kgalagadi, meaning “wilderness” – a region so vast, so impenetrable, as it hides secrets of ancient civilizations that disappeared a long time ago. Its sands are home and hunting territory of the oldest populations in the world, the tribes of Bushmen or San, who live today as they did 25,000 years ago. Their amazing adaptations in scorching heat, to the lack of the water and insufficient food, allowed people to survive where others would surely not. Although there is currently no longer than a few thousand bushmen in the Kalahari , their ancestors have left behind them numerous paintings in caves and on rocks in the region. For example in caves and on cliffs of the Tsodilo Hills, in the north-western desert, there are no fewer than 2750 pictures in 200 sites. These subjects vary from simple geometric designs to various groups of people and animals.
Even today, large groups can be seen as marching along the dried  rivers of Auob and Nossob, throwing gold dust in the air. Here, lions are often hidden under the foliage of trees, waiting for night to start hunting.

Tags: attraction, destination, kalahari, kalahari desert, tourist, travel, travelling2009, visit

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 3:50 am and is filed under Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.