Namaqualand

About Namaqualand:

• It is a desert region of southwestern Africa.
• From north to south, it stretches from the Karas region of Namibia to the Northern Cape province of South Africa. 
• From west to east, it stretches from the Namib Desert to the Kalahari. 
• It covers an area of 400,000 square kilometres.
• The Namibian section, north of the Orange River, is sometimes called Great Namaqualand. 
• The South African section, south of the Orange River, is sometimes called Little Namaqualand.
• It is very dry. For a large part of the year succulents are almost the only plants that can be seen on the vast plains.
  • Succulents can hold water for long periods and can survive in droughts.
• Rain falls mostly in the winter. If there is enough rain, wildflowers cover Namaqualand for a few weeks during springtime.
• The area was traditionally inhabited by the Nama people before the German occupation of the region in the 19th century.
• There are large deposits of copper in Namaqualand. The Nama mined them for hundreds of years. 
• In the early 1900s diamonds were discovered in several places in Namaqualand, including Sperrgebiet in Namibia and the Richtersveld in South Africa.

What are Termites?

• Termites are insects that eat wood. 
• They can damage buildings, furniture, and other wooden items.
• Termites are found all around the world, and there are more than 2,000 species. However, they are most common in tropical rainforests.
• Termites build damp nests in wood or underground.
  • Some underground nests rise partly above the ground as mounds or towers.
  • The nests are made of dirt, clay, and chewed wood.
• Termites live in organized groups called colonies. Mature termite colonies can contain 60,000 to 1 million termites, depending on the type of termite colony.
  • Each colony has three kinds of termites: royalty, soldiers, and workers.
  • Each kind of termite has a certain job within the colony.
• Termites also help nature by breaking down dead wood into nutrients. The nutrients can then be recycled and used by bacteria and plants.

Q1: Where is the Kalahari Desert?

The Kalahari Desert is a vast interior plateau, covering a large portion of southern Africa, encompassing almost all of Botswana, approximately one third of neighboring Namibia and a large portion of the Northern Cape province of South Africa to the south. Receiving less than 250 mm of rainfall per year, the Kalahari region is a desert, characterized by a landscape of gently undulating topography at approximately 900 meters above sea level.

Source: “Astonishing” Discovery – 34,000-Year-Old Inhabited Termite Mounds Discovered in South Africa