African Wildlife Environment Issue 75 FINAL

GENERAL

GOOD READS

Book reviews by Dr John Ledger

Namibia Petrou, Nikos & Neil MacLeod (2019). W ildlife of Namibia – A Photographic Guide . Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town. Soft cover,

Tales of the sea Piers, Richard (2019). Orca: The day the Great

White sharks disappeared . Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town. Soft cover, 15x21 cm, 144 pp, illustrated in colour throughout with photographs and maps and sketches. ISBN 978-1-77584 -642-0. R140

15x21 cm, 310 pp, illustrated in colour

throughout with photographs and maps. ISBN 978-1- 77584 -682-6. R250 This all-in-one compact guide will prove invaluable to visitors to national parks, nature reserves and other wildlife-rich places in Namibia, a fascinating land of contrasts, where floodplains, swamps and the world’s oldest desert have contributed to a rich biodiversity. This is an easy- to-use guide to the country’s most conspicuous and interesting mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates and plants. The introduction includes a map, sections on Geography, Climate and Water, Vegetation, Nature Conservation and Threats to Biodiversity. I was disappointed to find no mention of community conservation programmes, where Namibia is a world leader. The photographic guide deals with mammals, birds (the biggest chapter), reptiles, invertebrates and flora. The individual species photos are good, arranged eight to a double page spread, with a description of each species’ appearance, habits, size and conservation status, as well as information on habitat and best viewing localities and a distribution map. This little book will be useful to the tourist who would like to learn more about the fauna and flora of Namibia without the need for four or five different and bulky field guides.

Great White Sharks, attracted by an offshore seal colony, have brought success in many forms to the adjacent fishing village of Gansbaai along the southern African coast. A flourishing shark cage-diving industry has sprung up, bringing jobs and money, and so benefiting almost the entire community. Tourists come from far and near to experience the thrill of a real-life brush with the legendary ‘Jaws’. Shark Town, as it has become known, is booming. Then one day, the sharks disappear. Slowly at first, but with gathering momentum, the word spreads: cage-diving off Gansbaai can no longer promise the thrill of an encounter. The crowds thin, the boats remain at their moorings, and the once bustling community waits as their livelihoods tail off. Entrepreneurs and scientists alike are baffled. But it’s not long before shark carcasses start washing up on the beaches. These, together with some coincidental sightings of another apex predator in the vicinity, are the first leads to the possible causes and culprits. Against the clamour and thrill of the cage- diving season in full swing, Richard Peirce visits the unfolding drama and explores what’s behind these strange events. It turns out that two ‘Killer Whales’ or Orcas ( Orcinus orca ) are apparently responsible for driving out the sharks. The pair both have collapsed dorsal fins, one to the left and the other to the right. This enables their recognition, and their naming as ‘Port’ and ‘Starboard’. It was even possible to develop a map of sightings of these two animals from Namibia all along the Cape Coast to Port Elizabeth. The author weaves an extremely interesting story about Shark Town and its people, and how they were affected by the disappearance of the Great Whites, which

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