Karl Nolte resided in the northern Cape Colony and southern parts of German South West Africa (now Namibia) for severel years to the end of 1885, apparently as a trader and hunter. During the next ten years he wrote a number of popular scientific articles relating to Namibia and South Africa for German periodicals: "Viezucht in Namaqualand" (stock farming in Namaqualand, Deutsche Kolonialzeitung, 1886); "Die westliche Kalahari und ihre angrenzenden Distrikte" (The western Kalahari and its adjacent districts, Ibid, 1886); "Krankheit und Heilmittel der Nama und Buschmaenner" (Sickness and healing aids of the Nama and bushmen, Ibid, 1886); "Zur Wasserfrage in Suedwestafrika" (On the water question in South West Africa, Ibid, 1888, in two parts, in which he advocated German agricultural settlement on the north bank of the lower Orange River); "Ueber seinen Aufenthalt in der Kalahari und den benachbarten deutschen Schutzgebieten" (On his stay in the Kalahari and the neighbouring German Protectorates, Bericht Ueber die Senckenbergische Naturforschende gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, 1886); and "Strausse und Straussenzucht in Suedafrika" (Ostriches and ostrich farming in South Africa, Journal fuer Ornithologie, 1895).
The non-marine mollusc Mikrostele noltei was named after Nolte.
