Zebras gallop past mysterious
grass-ringed patches known as ‘fairy
circles’. According to one story told
by the Ovahimba tribe, these are the
footprints of the gods; another claims
that a dragon beneath the Earth’s crust
breathes fiery bubbles that burn the
vegetation into rings. Despite decades
of investigation, scientists still haven’t
established a definitive explanation for
these curious formationspeed is of the essence in the Namib Desert of
south-west Africa, where summer temperatures
reach 40°C in the shade and annual rainfall
averages a mere 70mm – but can be as low as 2mm in
the most arid coastal areas. When rain does fall, mostly
in the summer (October to April), survival is dependent
on the ability to react very quickly.
“The Namib is a boom-and-bust ecosystem,”
explains ecologist Danica Shaw. “Grasses, such
as several species in the genus Stipagrostis, can
complete their life-cycle in a mere seven days. The
sudden appearance of good grazing draws huge
numbers of antelopes and the desert can, for short
periods, sustain abundant wildlife. But the bust
occurs once resources are depleted and animals
must migrate to find water.” Larger animals cover
larger distances, and their journeys were disrupted by
fenced livestock farms until the NamibRand Nature
Reserve – a 202,200ha private reserve established in
1992 – removed internal fencing to create a migration
corridor between the coastal Namib-Naukluft National
Park and less-arid inland areas.
All life in the Namib has adapted to desert
conditions. The remarkable welwitschia, a floppy-
leaved plant that may live for over 1,000 years, is one
of many species relying for moisture mainly on the
coastal fog that drifts inland on about 180 days of the
year. The tok-tokkie beetle harvests this moisture at
dawn, performing a headstand at the top of a dune
while facing west – the sea fog condenses on its
body and trickles down its back into its mouth. Other
animals control moisture loss by reducing sweating.
This challenging ecosystem was put into context
for photographer Theo Allofs during one of his aerial
surveys over the reserve: “I saw enormous herds of
gemsbok, springbok, hartebeests and zebras. It was
like the Serengeti – except all these animals were
surviving in a harsh desert, and not in a lush savannah
with an abundance of food.” ßS
Theo has been drawn back
to Namibia many times since
his first visit in 1995. A great
fan of deserts, especially
the Namib, five years ago
he began a project on the
desert elephants that roam
the river beds in north-west
Namibia. Later he extended
his work to include the
Namib Desert as a whole,
and documented the survival
strategies of many species
in this arid habitat.PHOTOS BY THE PROJECT
Theo Allofs
Theo has
been a full-
time nature
photographer
since 1995. His images
have been published in
most of the major natural-
history magazines, and
he is a founding member
of the International
League of Conservation
Photographers (ILCP).
http://www.theoallofs.comNamib DesertNAMIBIANamib-
Naukluft NP
NamibRand
NRNATURE