Large Animals and Land Resources of Western Central Kalahari, Botswana

Abstract

Land resources planning and management in the Kalahari are hampered by lack of information about the various resources and their interaction. This lack of information has led to mismanagement of resources like grazing, displacement of wildlife from certain areas and conflict between wildlife and the expanding cattle industry in this semi-arid area. From 1983, I studied the distribution, abundance and interactions of nine big ungulates and the ostrich with some environmental factors and land uses in the Western Central Kalahari. The aims of the study were: to document principal environmental factors and investigate their influence on the distribution of selected wild and domestic animals; to document distribution and abundance of selected wild and domestic animals, and to examine the main land use policies and land use planning methods and propose modifications to the prevailing resource management practices.