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False Open spaces Travel Namibia Deep in the heart of the Kalahari Desert a herd of springbok are spooked by a light aircraft overhead. As the animals run they occasionally leap high into the air. As they ‘ pronk’ they emit a strong sweet- honey smell, all designed to confuse their predator. The Kalahari always surprises. For much of the year many of its deep russet dunes are covered in an iridescent yellowy green grass, and the animals that live there in great numbers – springbok, gemsbok and ostriches – find shade under the many acacia trees that have taken root in the sandy soil. For the Kalahari receives over 25cm of rain a year and as such is no longer the true desert it was many millennia ago, but a fossil desert. Befitting of a fossil, it is deathly quiet here in the seemingly endless open space, so quiet the San believe ‘ you can hear the stars sing’. Kalahari dreaming