It has a rocky terrain and small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored by Australians of European descent until well into the twentieth century. It is traversed by the Tanami Track.
The name Tanami is thought to be an anglicisation of the Warlpiri name for the area, "Chanamee", meaning "never die". This referred to certain rock holes in the desert which were said never to run dry.
According to government commissions, the Tanami desert is uniquely "one of the most important biological areas to be found in Australia particularly as it provides refuge for several of Australia's rare and endangered species".[5][6]
In July 2012, 10,000,000 hectares (25,000,000 acres) of the desert area (38% of the total bioregion) was declared an indigenous protected area or conservation zone.[8][9][10][11][12]
^Gibson, David F (1986). A biological survey of the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory. Vol. Technical report 072-9990. Alice Springs: Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory. p. 79. ISBN0-7245-0836-8.
Kelly, Kieran, (2003) Tanami : on foot across Australia's desert heart Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia, 2003. ISBN0-7329-1188-5
Thackway, R and I D Cresswell (1995) An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia : a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program Version 4.0 Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Reserve Systems Unit, 1995. ISBN0-642-21371-2
