KALAHARI

by Jens Bjerre ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 1961

Here is the desert of Southwest Africa seen by one who has lived with the Bushmen, wandered its edges -- over to the coastal regions, and pictured and noted its seasons, dangers and, very often, delights. A hardened traveler, the author had an idea about (but was relatively unprepared for) the rigors of this isolated area, and his progress to it, by way of Aughrabies (the highest falls) and Fish River (the grand canyon) and the caves of rock paintings (with the white lady of Brand Berg) is filled with speculations, theories, suppositions about the origins of geography and man, and is a voyage, through space and time, to a most primitive way of life. From 4 months, in the lush season with the Kung Bushmen, and the tribe's hunts, its search for and preparation of the poison for its arrows, its rites and celebrations, to the drought when bush fire, sexual initiations and borderline starvation become part of the picture, he goes on to meteors, underground lakes, the diamonds of Namib, sulphur, the islands off the coast, seals, the skeleton areas, a ghost town, etc. This member of a Danish expedition shares his awareness of natural wonders, the vastness of a desert solitude, the fascination of clues to the ""ancestry of the human race"", and the sense of living with the past. A scientific explorer's book of appeal to those who seek far off places.

Pub Date: March 16, 1961

ISBN: 1166130533

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hill and Wang

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION