A Rip Van Winkle of the Kalahari, and Other Tales of South-West Africa

The collection presents seven short tales drawn from prospecting camps and the veldt of the Kalahari and neighbouring South-West African borderlands, blending first-hand observation with imaginative adventure. Vivid landscape description and practical detail frame repeated survival challenges: desperate searches for water, navigation across dunes and pans, sand-storms, poisonous flowering belts, and deadly wildlife encounters. Episodes focus on prospecting, chance discoveries, and human responses to isolation, often mediated by local guides and transient companions. The stories alternate brisk, episodic action with reflective passages about the region's ecology and the psychological strains of desert travel, producing a series of compact, atmospheric sketches of hardship and wonder.