Using Landsat TM data we explored the magnitude and direction of change in reflectance from two study areas in the southern Kalahari Desert from 1989 to 1994. The study areas comprise three land use types: nature conservation, commercial game ranching and commercial pastoralism. The presence of these land use types provides the opportunity to explore the impacts of land management policies on vegetation structure, cover, species composition and the radiometric signal. In other semi-arid savannas provision of surface water and the associated increase in herbivory by domestic stock have resulted in a shift from grassy arid savanna to a shrubland with low perennial grass cover and high annual grass cover. Keywords: Kalahari, arid savanna, desertification, change detection, Landsat TM.