Day 9: Getting Closer to Skeleton Coast National Park

By Sanjayan

Under my tent this evening are the paw prints of lions. Six came this way a few hours before we got here, heading for the water — a small trickling spring —– about a kilometer away.

Our head tracker, Manieke, discerned all this in a few glances at the dusty ground. His eyes are incredible. He is aware of the smallest details. While we can all see, Manieke can spot.

We are camped under a small copse of false ebony trees near Kai-as springs. Our camels are parked out in the open where no lions can sneak up undetected and Rudi has pitched his tent, with his attending dogs, smack in the middle.

We are now in the true desert and the heart of operations for our local partner organization, Save the Rhino Trust. This land is a concession granted to Wilderness Safaris (the premiere luxury eco-safari provider in Southern Africa) and they have been careful stewards. We have seen no signs of humans in the two days we have spent walking through it.

This land will also form the core area for the proposed new protected area — the People’s Park, which will join up two of Namibia’s greatest existing national parks. 

A Tree Far From Home

Tall, waist-deep vegetation has given way to rocky, dry terrain sparsely sprinkled with short yellow grass stalks. There are small canyons along the way — the few trees we see are confined to such cool dark places. One contains a tree that Rudi says is far out of place. 

It is a Brandberg Acacia (Acacia montis-usti), with beautiful, butter-smooth bark and thick green leaves — a showy tree perched on the cliffs of the canyon. It is a local endemic but found only in a few places in Namibia, mostly in the Brandberg Mountains, a long way from here.

This is a true discovery — this tree has never been recorded in this area. We can only speculate how it got here and how it has managed to survive in this canyon. Perhaps it was brought here in elephant dung.

In one particularly deep canyon, our camels disturb a sleeping leopard and it bounds up into the rocks to hunker down and watch us. But leopards are not seen unless they want to be, and we pass by without incidence. It probably traps animals in this canyon, following them to the end where none can escape because of the steep walls. 

Plenty of Wildlife…Except for Rhinos

For the past two days wildlife sightings have been plentiful. We have passed many thousands of springbok, zebra, Oryx and giraffe. Some are not skittish and even approach us to have a look. But humans on foot, as opposed to tourists in a safari vehicle, are unfamiliar and most of the animals get no closer than 200 meters or so. 

We walk for hours without seeing anything, then come upon a valley filled from horizon to horizon with game. Patchy distribution seems to be a characteristic of the desert, where ephemeral resources, unpredictable rains and roaming predators make it difficult to predict with certainty where we will see wildlife.

Unfortunately, we don’t see any black rhinos, though we see their signs everywhere —dung piles where they mark their territory and rocks that look like they've been whitewashed (the white is mineral deposits from rhino urine).

The lack of rhino sightings has Rudi a bit concerned. There should be rhinos here, but perhaps the widespread rains have made them less dependant right now on the water sources we are scouring. 
Tomorrow, we will go looking for rhino. This is the heart of their territory and everyone is eager to find some. Our trackers are the best and take great pride in their work. In their minds, their job is incomplete without encountering the rhino. I joke that we should change the name from Save the Rhino to Save the Oryx. Though they laugh, it is not an easy laugh.

Fire in a Fragile Place

Late this afternoon, when we had made camp and settled in before dusk (for once!), a small fire broke out in the grasses — accidentally sparked by someone. After a fierce battle lasting more than an hour, we had contained it to a few acres and it died out when it hit some dry patches and old gravel beds.

Rudi will report the fire when he gets back — it must be documented even if it was accidental and swiftly contained. With the exceptional groundcover this year, and the dry easterly winds that have dogged us for days, something like this was perhaps expected.

The fire was a reminder of the fragility of this place, where any disturbance is instantly felt. If this area becomes open to many more tourists, vehicles would have to be very careful not to repeat what happened today.

I am beginning to finally understand deserts — their fragility and immensity. Patchy and ephemeral resources require a veneer of protection over a very large landscape.

To work successfully in arid lands, organizations like The Nature Conservancy will have to think very differently than we have in the past. It is not about “going deep” but rather going broad. Scale matters and unless you can afford protection to a very large (say 500,000 hectares) landscape, efforts won't last. The good news is that threats are similarly dispersed and a little effort does go a long way. 

The east winds that have been at our back, spooking game, have finally died down. We are fit enough to handle the long walks with ease, our eyes mostly on the horizon rather than on our stumbling shoes. We are now 40 kilometers east of Skeleton Coast National Park. Each day is full and ends far too soon. 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Sanjayan/TNC (Canyon on the Upper Obob); Photo © Sanjayan/TNC (Sunset over Skeleton Coast National Park); Photo © Sanjayan/TNC (Brush fire).