THE KALAHARI GEMSBOK NATIONAL PARK

Appears unread. 237pp incl index; mostly col photos thru’out text, some early photos in sepia. Heavy book please expect extra postage.

In a distant corner of the northern Cape, daunting by its desert nature, alluring in its stunning diversity, lies the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Second only to the Kruger National Park in area, it has never attained the heights of public attention it rightly deserves.

Its initially forbidding, countenance of ancient dunes and extreme heat and cold gives way to spectacular beauty and wildlife. The diversity and vigour of it life are startling.

The park has a highly distinctive personality. There is no place where the cycle of birth, death and survival is not continuous. Some of it is on a small scale with a host of creatures occupying the dunes and pans. Often it is easily visible among the gemsbok and lion, the leopards, a cheetah and springbok and other antelope, as well as the breathtaking array of birds from raptors to weavers.

The Crowded Desert is a narrative safari that is intriguing and invigorating. The flavour and moods of the Kalahari are almost, tantalisingly, brought to life by the crisp text. The history of the park and the personalities of the multitude of creatures which create its daily rhythms of life are woven into the book to make it as much an engaging story as it is a vibrant record of wildlife.

This comprehensive book is handsomely illustrated with photographs from, among others, the Anthony Bannister Photo Library, which represent some of South Africa’s finest wildlife photographers.

Wilf Nussey is a former reporter, foreign correspondent and newspaper editor in Africa and overseas. He is an avid conservationist an is also writer of Kruger, Portrait of a National Park.