Written in the Sand

Description

Written in the Sand

Author: Bothma
Format: Softback
Published: 2020

Written in the Sand examines the origin and nature of the southern Kalahari ecosystem, its conservation history, the Kalahari San people and the research there by wildlife ecologist Prof. J. du P. Bothma. The southern Kalahari still is a little penetrated wilderness in many respects and with limited roads, tracks and other facilities, there are large untrammeled areas. Without doubt many of its dunes and interdune valleys have yet to experience even a fleeting moment of the passage of humans. There one can still come close to a total rapport with nature, especially at sunset when viewing the world from the sandy crest of a tall dune.

Rainfall is scarce and variable, and to experience rain in the Kalahari is to drink the nectar of life. Both the lack and occurrence of rainfall drive the dynamics of the Kalahari ecosystem and entire populations of plants and animals wax and wane to the cadence of the rainfall. This arid region has fascinated humans for centuries, and has spawned many tales, some of them mere myths which are devoid of all reality. Written in the Sand: The origin and nature of the southern Kalahari attempts to reveal some of the facts and myths of the Kalahari and offers but a small window onto the multitude of infinitesimal nuances of the deeply moving Kalahari Symphony.