Kanana Wilderness is a part of the geographical area known as the Kalahari Desert, which is really a misnomer, and would be better described as the Kalahari savannah. Within Kanana there are two distinct ecological systems. The north is sand veldt where a thick layer of sand overlies the calcrete bedrock, the ground water if present at all is very deep and tends to be brackish, there is no surface water except in the wettest of rainy seasons and then for only a short period. The south is calcrete stone veldt with shallow ground water and pans, which in a good year will hold water all year round.

The various mammals present on Kanana prefer different habitats partly depending on the season and weather, generally the northern sand veldt is favoured by the grazers such as zebra, rhino, springbok, hartebeest and gemsbok whilst the browsers such as kudu, eland and giraffe prefer the stone veldt with it’s bigger trees such as the many types of acacia, camel thorn being a favourite, and leadwoods. However it’s not uncommon to find eland and giraffe on the sandier soils where they are partial to apple blaar and silver leafed terminalia.

Many types of birds occur, the white backed vulture is common and has many nesting sites in the leadwood and acacia belts on the stone veldt, korie bustards are abundant and prefer the sand veldt where they march through the grass devouring insects disturbed by their passage. The man made water holes attract many species and it is noticeable how the guinea fowl and francolin populations have boomed with the water availability. There are many types of raptor from the huge marshal eagle to the smaller goshawks, a particular favourite is the bateleur eagle which is widespread.