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Gondwana - Journey through the Desert Land
"I
never imagined that there is so much variety to the desert."
This exclamation is often heard from tourists who have been
to the southern and western parts of Namibia for the first
time. It is a region where four desert systems overlap. Small
wonder therefore, that travellers are captivated by the incredible
vastness of the scenery and its strikingly unspoilt quality,
by the stark beauty, the sublime solitude and the almost deafening
silence. By the amazing diversity of the desert areas: |
the gravel plains, the dry river-beds, the inselbergs
and sand-seas. And they are captivated by the profusion
of life, be it plant or animal, which over the millennia
has adapted to the harsh conditions in the most amazing,
resourceful ways.
The fascination is followed by questions of how and
why things came to be like this. In the private nature
parks of the Gondwana Desert Collection visitors have
the opportunity to experience the desert as closely
as can be and have all their questions answered. |
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Four
Desert Systems
Namibia, the land of deserts, is affected by two major meteorological
systems. The Inter-tropical Convergence Zone feeds in moist
air from the north, but dry air from the Subtropical High
Pressure Zone pushes the moist air back. This is the cause
of Namibia's dazzling blue skies and hot, dry air. Humidity
is less than 20 per cent during most of the year, while average
temperatures can soar to over 40° C in summer. Evaporation
rates are extremely high, typically around 2,000 to 2,500
mm per year - which exceeds rainfall by up to 150 times. When
rain does fall it usually comes in summer during brief but
vehement thunderstorms. Rainfalls are also highly variable
and unpredictable, with an error margin of between 50 and
90 percent. |
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Namibia
is the driest country south of the Sahara. Its only
perennial rivers form the southern and northern border,
with roughly 1,700 km between them. All other rivers
and drainage lines in the country are ephemeral. They
merely flow for a few days per year.
But despite the aridity Namibia is
a country of huge contrasts, rich diversity and abundant
wildlife. It is the diversity of its geology, landscapes
and ecosystems that make Namibia the unique and precious
country that it is, both ecologically and culturally.
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Namibia boasts no less than four different desert systems:
1. The Namib, the driest of
them all, forms a narrow strip along the
Atlantic coast. Based on the vegetation it is divided
into three main
components:
1.1 The southern Dune Namib is a shifting sea of unvegetated
sand
with the highest dunes in the world.
1.2 The central gravel plains with the odd inselberg
are characterised
by an amazing diversity of species and (micro) habitats.
1.3 Rugged mountains and valleys are the main features
of the north.
Numerous large ephemeral rivers have cut through the
hilly terrain on
their way to the coast.
One of the characteristics of the Namib is the coastal
fog which
provides some moisture for this hyper-arid belt next
to the Atlantic
Ocean. The fog sustains an enormously diverse and specifically
adapted plant and animal life.
2. The Succulent Karoo is
a coastal belt which stretches from southern
Namibia into South Africa. Its very low precipitation
is mostly limited to
winter. The vegetation is dominated by succulents and
other smaller
plants which store their water mainly in the leaves
and stems.
3. The Nama Karoo takes up
most of southern central Namibia. From
about 120 km south of Windhoek it reaches all the way
down into
South Africa. In the west it forms a wedge between the
Namib and the
Succulent Karoo and it stretches into the Southern Kalahari
in the east.
The narrow tract of Nama Karoo that extends into southern
Angola is the transition between the Namib and the dry
savannah of the interior. The Nama Karoo is subdivided
into six different vegetation types, all
of which are characterised by dwarf shrubs and scattered
grasslands.
4. The Arid Savannah of the Southern Kalahari
is characterised by red
sand which forms long parallel chains of partly vegetated
dunes. The
dune valleys are dominated by grasses, while trees such
as camel
thorn and shepherd's bush grow on the lower and middle
slopes of the
dunes. The crests are usually exposed as red caps without
or very
little plant-growth. Because of the deep sand there
is hardly any
surface water, not even immediately after the sporadic
rainfalls.
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What
is a Desert?
There are several different definitions for 'desert'. The
simplest, but not very useful one is based on rainfall only.
The 500 mm isohyet is applied and broken down as follows:
Up to 100 mm – 'extremely arid deserts' (the Namib,
Succulent Karoo, parts of the Nama Karoo);
100 - 250 mm – 'arid deserts' (the remainder of the
Nama Karoo and most of the southern Kalahari);
250 - 500 mm – 'semi-arid deserts' (the remainder of
the southern Kalahari and most of the rest of Namibia!). Over
90 percent of Namibia fit into this definition of a desert
- but it is hardly appropriate. If annual rainfalls are the
criterion, then less than 250 mm is the quantity that defines
a desert more aptly. |
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| Another
definition looks at the 'water deficit': the ratio of
evaporation and rainfall. In the Namib and Succulent
Karoo, water loss through evaporation exceeds rainfall
by a factor of at least 25 times. In the Nama Karoo
the deficit factor is about 15 times more and in the
southern Kalahari about 12 times. By contrast, it is
about eightfold in the semi-arid savannah system, e.g.
around Windhoek, while it is about fivefold in the woodlands
of the north-east where annual rainfall is around 500
mm. A water deficit factor of more than 10 is a suitable
benchmark for defining 'deserts'. |
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| A third definition
of a desert is "... a water-controlled ecosystem with
poor, irregular and largely unpredictable water inputs ..."
(Professor Imanuel Noy-Meir in ‘The Living Deserts of
Southern Africa’, Lovegrove 1993). Looking at all of
the above definitions there is no doubt that all four of Namibia's
desert systems fit into the category of hyper-arid and arid
climatic zones. With their exposed, varied geology and diverse
plant and animal life they are four very different deserts
and very much alive (Four
Desert Characteristics Table). |
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Game
edged out
The creatures of the different ecosystems have adapted to
the harsh conditions of the desert in various ingenious ways.
This is also true for the first people who conquered this
habitat – the San (Bushmen). As hunter-gatherers they
followed their prey in small family groups. They lived in
complete harmony with nature, or, in today's terminology,
they utilised their scarce natural resources in a sustainable
manner.
This changed abruptly when Europeans started to arrive in
southern Africa. From about 1800 onwards hunters from the
Cape region crossed the Gariep (Orange River) and during the
following decades wiped out many animal species in southern
Namibia, including Giraffe, Hippo, Elephant and Rhino. The
Quagga was hunted to total extinction. However, worse was
to come for the delicate ecosystems of the arid landscapes
when European settlers moved into the region. Worried about
their small livestock they killed even the smaller predators,
like Hyena or Jackal, while their sometimes extensive livestock
farming damaged the natural plant cover. |
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| Against this background
it becomes clear how imperious it is, especially in southern
Namibia, to return to a sustainable utilisation of the land
and its natural resources. This does not imply recultivation
of the Sans' way of life, because then the number of inhabitants
in the south would have to be reduced drastically. It rather
means to use sufficiently large and suitable areas for changing
from farming over to tourism. With tourism growing in leaps
and bounds since Namibia gained independence in 1990, it has
become increasingly evident that game-keeping and hospitality
generate much more income and create many more jobs than farming. |
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A Park in each
Desert
It is this very consideration on which the three-pillar-concept
of the Gondwana Desert Collection is based. Income derived
from tourism is used to finance nature conservation measures,
which in turn increase the area's attraction to visitors.
By providing tourist accommodation and activities, jobs and
career opportunities for local people are created.
In Gondwana Cañon Park at the Fish River Canyon, which
by now covers an area of 1,120 km², this concept has
been implemented successfully since 1996. |
In
December 2004 another three parks were added:
Gondwana Kalahari Park on the 100 km² farming area
of former Anib Lodge, about 30 km north-east of Mariental;
Gondwana Namib Park (100 km²), taking up the area
of former Namib Restcamp (or Petrified Dune Lodge) with
the 'fossilised dunes' of the protomorphic Namib, about
60 km north of Sesriem/ Sossusvlei; and Gondwana Sperrgebiet
Rand Park (510 km²) on the eastern fringe of the
Restricted Area near Aus. |
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In the
four parks of the Gondwana Desert Collection guests can get
acquainted with all four of Namibia's desert systems and their
own characteristic variety of scenery, plants and animals:
- The Kalahari in Gondwana Kalahari Park with the new Kalahari
Anib
- Lodge
- the Nama Karoo in Gondwana Cañon Park with Cañon
Lodge, Cañon
- Village,
Cañon Roadhouse and Cañon Mountain Camp
- the Succulent Karoo in Gondwana Sperrgebiet Rand Park with
Eagle's
- Nest Lodge, Desert
Horse Inn, Geisterschlucht Camp and Campsite
- and the Namib in Gondwana Namib Park with the new Namib
Desert
- Lodge and the upcoming
Namib Dune Lodge.
The parks are linked by the Gondwana Desert Route which has
the shape of a horseshoe; central marketing and bookings are
handled by the Gondwana Travel Centre.
Why the name Gondwana? Gondwana was the ancient southern super-continent
which aeons ago split into South America and Africa and thus
contributed to the formation of the Fish River Canyon and
the Kalahari Basin. Further disintegration into South America
and Antarctica changed the ocean currents. It brought forth
the cold Benguela Current along Namibia's coast, without which
the Succulent Karoo and the Namib would not exist. Hence the
name Gondwana represents all of Namibia's deserts. And at
the same time the realisation that humanity does not own the
lands and waters of this planet, but only inhabits them temporarily
and should therefore treat them with responsible care. |
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