WAR, DROUGHT, POACHING IN THE NAMIB DESERT.

Remember, in Damaraland we’re not just talking about any wild animals. These are desert elephants and rhinos, for God’s sake. The combination of those species and that environment is not found anywhere else in the world. You can’t tell me that ecologically and aesthetically they aren’t a priority, that they’re not worth saving. What a waste, what a loss to science and the world if they’re allowed to pass from the scene at this stage, when it’s still within our power to do something about it.

North west Namibia is a desert rugged, utterly uncompromising, frequently beautiful and always fascinating. It comprises two adjoining tribal homelands. Damaraland and Kaokoland, and until recently was virtually untouched by the intrusive influence of the technological age.

Here live great herbivores such as elephants, rhinos, and giraffe, in an environment unlike any other in Africa. Living amongst them are Himba Pastoralists, a tribe that time has left behind.

The author joined the area’s resident ecologist Garth Owen Smith, to see for himself what has happened here. This book deals with the people they met and the wildlife encountered. It tackles the problems caused by the war between the South African Army and the Swapo guerillas which has spilled over into this area; the poaching that is going on there, and the effects of a crippling five year drought.