INTRODUCTION
Shakespeare, in Richard II:
This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demiparadise
This fortress built by nature for herself
A desert is a place where you will find silence and space. Science has a different description: A desert is a desert if it gets less than 12 inches (30cm) of rain per year. Deserts are generally understood today to be desolate, far flung places: “barren tracts with little or no water". In fact, a third of the earth’s surface is classed as desert. Chances are, wherever a man or woman stands, a desert is not far off.
Most deserts are made out as wastelands filled with emptiness. Eden’s do exist beyond the biblical archetype: California’s Silicon Valley is one and in the desert of Nevada is another, glimmering Las Vegas. Both are models of a demiparadise erupting out of mere waterless soil. There are better things to do and see in deserts than make memory chips or spin roulette tables. These areas boast eye-popping spectacles, such as in the Pinnacles Desert of Western Australia with its 30,000-year-old limestone pillars (the remains of an ancient forest).
Deserts are more than just sand dunes; they are often journeys through very ancient worlds. Egypt’s Western desert and the Grand Canyon are prime cases, as is the Gobi with its fossilised remains of dinosaurs. Salt flats such as the very dry Atacama in South America have a haunting lunar beauty about them, so too do the shores of the Jordan’s Dead Sea. Desert locations (such as Death Valley in the Mojave, Morocco and Tunisia) frequently form impressive backdrops for commercial filmmaking, often with science fiction and ancient historical themes.
The biggest and most breathtaking deserts in the world are in Africa. The principal desert is the Sahara, 25 times the size of Great Britain, spanning over 2,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface and still spreading. One of the oldest deserts, The Namib in southern Africa, has the world’s highest sand dunes at Sossusvlei. The Namib is famous for its “Skeleton Coast", a centuries-old killer of ships and men that forms the western part of the world’s largest continuous mantle of sand, the Kalahari Desert.
The Kalahari is more accurately described as a "thirstland" because of the lack of surface water, but it boasts the most astonishing Eden of all– the Okavango Delta, the largest inland delta in the world. Not far to the East is the Makgadigadi Salt Pans, the world’s biggest saltpans. Both the delta and the pans are visible on satellite imagery and high definition weather photos. The Kalahari extends from Namibia into Zimbabwe and South Africa, and forms most of a country called Botswana.
In the centre of the African plateau, in line with the Tropic of Capricorn, is the landlocked country of Botswana, Africa’s most successful democracy. This is the heartland of the Kalahari. The word ‘Kalahari’ is believed to have come from a marginalized community in Botswana called the BaKgalagari.
Botswana nowadays produces almost a third of the world's diamonds by value, far more than any other state. This represents about half of government revenue. The world’s largest and second largest diamond mines – Jwaneng and Orapa, are to be found in the Kalahari region of Botswana. Orapa, slightly smaller than Jwaneng, is situated in a more ecologically sensitive area, close to the edge of the massive Makgadigadi Salt Pans, some hundred miles east of the delta.
In 1997, the Botswana government began a large-scale evacuation of the Kalahari’s aboriginal people from their familial lands in the Kalahari. These evacuations continue today. They have been carried out under the semblance of the Bushmen's 'development', and also for the protection of the areas animals. But while more and more Bushmen are driven out, or their water supplies removed, the number of concessions granted for diamond mining operations is skyrocketing. De Beers is a major actor in this show of voracity and self-indulgence.
The Kalahari Bushmen's dilemma is tied directly to Botswana's diamond trade. Pressure from the police is routine. Virtually all the Bushmen now live in bleak resettlement camps. About 100 still hold out in the Reserve. This story is for them.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demiparadise
This fortress built by nature for herself
A desert is a place where you will find silence and space. Science has a different description: A desert is a desert if it gets less than 12 inches (30cm) of rain per year. Deserts are generally understood today to be desolate, far flung places: “barren tracts with little or no water". In fact, a third of the earth’s surface is classed as desert. Chances are, wherever a man or woman stands, a desert is not far off.
Most deserts are made out as wastelands filled with emptiness. Eden’s do exist beyond the biblical archetype: California’s Silicon Valley is one and in the desert of Nevada is another, glimmering Las Vegas. Both are models of a demiparadise erupting out of mere waterless soil. There are better things to do and see in deserts than make memory chips or spin roulette tables. These areas boast eye-popping spectacles, such as in the Pinnacles Desert of Western Australia with its 30,000-year-old limestone pillars (the remains of an ancient forest).
Deserts are more than just sand dunes; they are often journeys through very ancient worlds. Egypt’s Western desert and the Grand Canyon are prime cases, as is the Gobi with its fossilised remains of dinosaurs. Salt flats such as the very dry Atacama in South America have a haunting lunar beauty about them, so too do the shores of the Jordan’s Dead Sea. Desert locations (such as Death Valley in the Mojave, Morocco and Tunisia) frequently form impressive backdrops for commercial filmmaking, often with science fiction and ancient historical themes.
The biggest and most breathtaking deserts in the world are in Africa. The principal desert is the Sahara, 25 times the size of Great Britain, spanning over 2,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface and still spreading. One of the oldest deserts, The Namib in southern Africa, has the world’s highest sand dunes at Sossusvlei. The Namib is famous for its “Skeleton Coast", a centuries-old killer of ships and men that forms the western part of the world’s largest continuous mantle of sand, the Kalahari Desert.
The Kalahari is more accurately described as a "thirstland" because of the lack of surface water, but it boasts the most astonishing Eden of all– the Okavango Delta, the largest inland delta in the world. Not far to the East is the Makgadigadi Salt Pans, the world’s biggest saltpans. Both the delta and the pans are visible on satellite imagery and high definition weather photos. The Kalahari extends from Namibia into Zimbabwe and South Africa, and forms most of a country called Botswana.
In the centre of the African plateau, in line with the Tropic of Capricorn, is the landlocked country of Botswana, Africa’s most successful democracy. This is the heartland of the Kalahari. The word ‘Kalahari’ is believed to have come from a marginalized community in Botswana called the BaKgalagari.
Botswana nowadays produces almost a third of the world's diamonds by value, far more than any other state. This represents about half of government revenue. The world’s largest and second largest diamond mines – Jwaneng and Orapa, are to be found in the Kalahari region of Botswana. Orapa, slightly smaller than Jwaneng, is situated in a more ecologically sensitive area, close to the edge of the massive Makgadigadi Salt Pans, some hundred miles east of the delta.
In 1997, the Botswana government began a large-scale evacuation of the Kalahari’s aboriginal people from their familial lands in the Kalahari. These evacuations continue today. They have been carried out under the semblance of the Bushmen's 'development', and also for the protection of the areas animals. But while more and more Bushmen are driven out, or their water supplies removed, the number of concessions granted for diamond mining operations is skyrocketing. De Beers is a major actor in this show of voracity and self-indulgence.
The Kalahari Bushmen's dilemma is tied directly to Botswana's diamond trade. Pressure from the police is routine. Virtually all the Bushmen now live in bleak resettlement camps. About 100 still hold out in the Reserve. This story is for them.
posted by Nick at 11:38 PM
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