RAS question
The Kalahari Desert is located in which part of Africa?
Correct answer: (B) Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa).
The Kalahari Desert is located in Southern Africa, covering parts of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Explanation
The Kalahari is a Southern African desert, so option B is the only location that matches the map. It extends across Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, with a broad extent of about 900,000 sq km. Botswana's official government page says the country is situated in the Southern African region and is dominated geographically by the Kalahari Desert, while NASA Earth Observatory describes the Kalahari as covering the eastern third of Namibia, northern parts of South Africa and nearly all of Botswana. The clue is therefore the country cluster, not just the word desert: Botswana, Namibia and South Africa point south, not west, east or north Africa.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Western Africa is associated here with the Sahara belt, while the Kalahari is placed across Botswana, Namibia and South Africa in Southern Africa.
- (C) Eastern Africa is not the location of the Kalahari; the question contrasts it with Eastern Africa's Chalbi Desert.
- (D) Northern Africa is the Sahara's region, whereas the Kalahari belongs to the Southern African country cluster of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Concept
This tests the world geography mapping of major deserts and their regional locations. It recurs in RAS because deserts, plateaus and country clusters are standard map-based factual anchors in physical geography.