THE BESIEGED DESERT: WAR, DROUGHT, POACHING IN THE NAMIB DESERT. By Mitch Reardon.

1986 1st edition. 4to (182 x 252mm). Pp158. Colour photographs. Brown boards, spine titled in gilt.

A look at the Namibian desert and the problems of its wildlife and people. "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 Afica. 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 meet 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." Chapters include:- A far country; The Ombonde giraffe; Desert elephants; Walking the red plains; Fortress mountains; Down the Hoanib; Kaokoland: northwards; Kaokoland: westwards.