The Kalahari Desert is something of a misnomer as it is not really a desert. It is a semi arid zone, distinctly different from a true desert region. A strange, yet essential feature of this region is the pans. These are either round or circular and consist of hard, gray clay. They are shallow hollows, which gleam, in the harsh sun of the Kalahari Desert, and yet these pans provide the essential salt for the animals of the Kalahari. The view created by these pans is drab and flat. The pans vary in size from a few hundred metres to a few square kilometers. There are two other distinct ecosystems found in the central Kalahari region; rich savannah and flowing golden grasslands.

The main places to visit in the Kalahari Desert are the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the Khutse Game Reserve, Orapa - the diamond capital of the country- and Rakops.

Rakops is a small insignificant town close to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and Deception Pans. It is one of the few places where fuel (diesel only) can be bought in this area.

Orapa is the diamond capital of Botswana. Diamonds were discovered in Botswana just over thirty years ago. De Beer geologists discovered the first diamonds in 1967 in Orapa, only a year after Botswana’s Independence.

The mine was developed rapidly and by 1971, the mine was completed and production had begun. It was due to the discovery of diamonds here that Botswana not only has the strongest African currency but is also one of the wealthiest and most stable countries in Africa. There are plans for the Orapa mine to double its production by the year 2000, and it is already one of largest single diamond mining projects to be undertaken anywhere in the world.

Khutse Game Reserve - This reserve, the southern extension of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, was established to conserve the pans of the Central Kalahari. The reserve’s grass and shrub lands attract the herds of antelope, and these in turn attract the attention of the endangered predators, such as cheetah and wild dog. After a good rainfall you may see as spot as 150 species of birds around the pans.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve - The spectacular sandy reserve was founded in 1961. The reserve surprisingly enough was not founded to protect any endangered animal but an endangered breed of man, the San Bushmen. The reserve was established to provide a home for the Bushmen in their ‘natural environment’, the only place they were able to survive. This unusual reserve is the second largest piece of desert land in the world, and is as such doubly precious. This reserve is made up of shimmering pans and golden grasslands situated in the Central Kalahari Desert. A few solitary mopane, camel thorn, the Kalahari apple and silver custer-leaf trees stand in isolation in this amazing sea of shimmering grass. Four fossil rivers twist and turn through this arid reserve. Among them is the dusty old watercourse that wound its way through the Northern Kalahari 16,000 years ago and is today known as Deception Valley - a brilliant game watching area. A variety of grasses, acacia, thorn trees and other tough drought resistant plants cover most of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Among the shallow valleys tsamma melons and gemsbok cucumbers are found and provide the main source of water for the animals and Bushmen during the dry season.