by-product of this self-imposed exile in a place devoid of other humans
was total immersion into the animal world. As trained scientists, both
men took a disciplined and energetic interest in their new circumstances,
which Martin recounted in great detail in his memoir, The Sheltering
Desert (1957). In it, he describes how they were forced to adapt to an
elemental existence, which centered on a trinity of basic needs: safety,
food, and water. But it had a surreal twist: a wind-powered generator
enabled them to listen to the radio. There, in the desert fastness, where
the Southern Cross gave shape to the night sky, herds of zebra clattered
by in the dark, and thirst trumped all other concerns, news of the war in
Europe intruded like distress calls from another planet. These men were,
quite literally, caught between worlds. As wanted men, and refugees from
twentieth-century fascism and war, they were forced to rediscover skills
and instincts that had lain dormant since the Stone Age.
The Namib Desert is barren for much of the year, save for a few
scattered bushes and trees, so Korn’s and Martin’s diet was heavily
dependent on meat. As a result, animals became a central focus; they
were mobile hubs around which their own lives revolved. Because their
bullets were old and weak—to the point that they would bounce off the
skulls of their prey—Martin and Korn had to creep within bow and arrow
range to be assured of a kill. But even as their lives took on an
increasingly savage and desperate cast, they were able to step back and
observe their own behavior—as if they were researcher and subject rolled
into one. “Our clothes, always stiff with blood and sweat, were torn and
frayed from crawling over the sharp hot rubble,” wrote Martin.^13 “After a
while we gave up wearing trousers and stockings.... Using towels as loin-
cloths we sat there and tore apart the ribs of an antelope ... and gnawed
away like carnivorous beasts.^14 But our thoughts were freer and less
oppressed than they had ever been, and later that evening Hermann’s
violin sang triumphantly into the dark night around us.” At one point,
Korn was moved to say, “My paleolithic soul feels at home here.”^15
As they settled into the Namib’s ancient rhythms of flood and drought,
hunting and repose, Martin and Korn studied the animals around them,