It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal desert, whose name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place".

The fossil flora and fauna from Gcwihaba Cave in Botswana indicates that the region was much wetter and cooler at least from 30 to 11 thousand Before Present, especially after 17,500 BP.

Ancient dry riverbeds—called omuramba—traverse the central northern reaches of the Kalahari and provide standing pools of water during the rainy season.

The surrounding Kalahari Basin covers over 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi) extending farther into Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, encroaching into parts of Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The climate is sub-humid rather than semi-arid in the north and east, where the dry forests, savannahs, and salt lakes prevail.

[15] A totally different vegetation is adapted to the perennial fresh water of the Okavango Delta, an ecoregion termed Zambezian flooded grasslands AT0907.

[15] The Kalahari is home to the lion (Panthera leo), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), African leopard (Panthera pardus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea), and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus pictus).

Other animals include wildebeest, springbok, gemsbok and other antelopes, Cape porcupines (Hystrix africaeaustralis), and ostriches (Struthio camelus).

This area, for example, supports numerous halophilic species, and in the rainy season, tens of thousands of flamingos visit these pans.

[18] They hunt wild game with bows and poisoned arrows and gather edible plants, such as berries, melons and nuts, as well as insects.

The San live in huts built from local materials—the frame is made of branches, and the roof is thatched with long grass.

[19] In 2006, a Botswana High Court ruled in favor of the San and Bakgalagadi tribes in the reserve, finding their eviction unlawful.

The Government of Botswana granted a permit to De Beers' Gem Diamonds/Gope Exploration Company (Pty) Ltd. to conduct mining activities within the reserve.