It’s always lovely to kick back and enjoy a good book when travelling. What better way to learn about the places you are visiting than to read a novel set in the places you are visiting or to get a travel book detailing the beauties and wonders you can see. We’ve put together 5 books you may want to consider adding to your collection to increase your knowledge on Namibia.
1. Sands Of Silence: On Safari In Namibia by Peter Hathaway Capstick
Genre: Travel Writing
This lavishly illustrated and historically important safari is captured in print by Peter Hathaway Capstick. He journeyed through Namibia in the spring of 1989. The nation was on the brink of independence and the land scorched by son and many years of a bitter war. In these perilous circumstances, Capstick commenced on what must have been the most thrilling safari of his career.
He introduces the reader to the amazingly stark landscape that is the Busmen’s tribal territory. Facing risks of all kinds, this exciting big game adventure spins riveting tales from his travels, reports on the Bushmen’s culture, political persecution and the Stone Age life of Africa’s original hunter-gatherers. Ethical hunting is explained in detail as a tool for game protection and economic management on the continent.
Dr. M Philip Kahl, leading Africa wildlife photographer captures one hundred striking colour photos in the “land of thirst.”
From the Publisher
“Chatty, discursive, and splendidly forthright in his opinions, Capstick writes of a way of life fast disappearing but still immensely attractive.”
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2. The Other Side of Silence by Andre Brink
Genre: Fiction
The Other Side of Silence is the story of young German woman dreaming of her country’s colony in South-West Africa (Namibia). To escape the years of abuse and little hope of a better future, she learns of women being transported to the colony to attend to needs of male settlers and decides to go. She is confronted with harsh realities of colonial life and she revolts against the regime that brought her there. Mounting an army of female and native victims of the widespread colonial brutality, she sets out on a march through the desert to take on the German Reich. The combination of the history of colonialism and the myths of Africa, this amazing tale is beautifully written detailing suffering, violence, revenge, love and compassion poignantly.
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3. Namibia by Gerald & Marc Hoberman
Genre: Photography
Gerald Hoberman, a master of the art of photography, and his son Marc, have turned out an amazingly fascinating portrait of Namibia. Their photographs capture the essence of a stark land of astonishing beauty. The diversity of the country’s people, from the San, to the Himba and even the European influence of the German empire is revealed through the lens. The colonial ambiance still pervades the capital city and smaller towns. Gerald and Marc venture into Namibia and emerge with images and words reflecting the harsh beauty and rich diversity of an extraordinary land.
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4. An Elephant’s Life by Caitlin o’Connell
Genre: Photography
Caitlin O’Connell, a leading field biologist who has researched and photographed these animals in their natural habitat for two decades, provides a unique immersion into the life of the African elephant. More than 250 full colour photos by O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell illustrate a fuller picture of elephant society. Readers experience the frustrations and anguish of the coming of age male elephant struggling to leave his family and witness the constant vigilance a matriarch exerts to protect her family along with many other societal norms in the Elephant kingdom.
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