Our Stories

Part four in our series about the use of burrows in an environment, like the Kalahari, where denning, or finding shelter underground for fragile cubs and pups, is critical to surviving temperature extremes.

The chance discovery of a Pale Ciliate Blue brings Tswalu’s species count to 83 butterflies, which is remarkable for a semi-arid area in the southern Kalahari according to lepidopterist Reinier Terblanche.

Wits PhD candidate Azraa Ebrahim is studying the thermal physiology of a snake called a puff adder, a project that falls under the climate change focused Kalahari Endangered Ecosystem Project (KEEP).

Biodiversity accounts for the variety and variability of life on earth, from genes to entire ecosystems. Marcus Westberg outlines the many reasons why restoring biodiversity is essential to both planet and people.

Part three in our series about the importance of burrows in the Kalahari describes the many types of burrows that protect animals from extreme temperatures, while providing safety, shelter and a place to sleep.

Part two in our series about the value of burrows in the Kalahari explains the difference between master diggers, like aardvark, and those animals that modify or simply move into existing burrows.

The first in a series of stories by Helen Mertens about the value of burrows in the Kalahari ecosystem, and the interconnectedness of life in the fascinating underground world below the sand.

Photographer Marcus Westberg writes about our role in the natural world and the value of human intervention in nature, such as wildlife conservation management, so that wild places and creatures can be protected.

Current research has confirmed that Tswalu Kalahari is distinctly a source area for the butterfly migration, thanks to the large number of Boscia albitrunca trees on both sides of the Korannaberg mountains.