The sheltering desert Book

This was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2011. I discovered it while researching a trip to Namibia, and I don't know how I missed this important travel classic.

It's the story of two German geologists in Namibia at the start of World War Two: Henno Martin, Hermann Korn, and their dog Otto. They watched from a distance as a self-destructive madness engulfed Europe. And they knew they didn't want any part of it. If they stayed in Windhoek they would no doubt be sent to an internment camp with the other German residents. And so they fled into the Namib Desert instead.

The book tells the tale of how they survived out there for two and a half years. How they learned to hunt and find water, to build shelter and make tools. It's also filled with astute observations about the human psyche, and what it means to be "primitive." In one passage, Martin writes, "It was about this time that we noticed a change in the subject of our dreams. Animals began to play an increasing part in them and the distinction between human beings and animals became blurred." It's interesting to speculate on how much of our mythology, of shape shifting and anthropomorphic gods, emerged naturally from a hunting life.

I was so impressed by this book that I made the long drive to Kuiseb Canyon just to see with my own eyes the landscape that Henno Martin wrote about and lived in.