The Sheltering Desert – Henno Martin
Many years ago, we listened to a book reading over the radio while living in Windhoek, Namibia. We bought the book but never read it.
Many years later in Europe, I read it. Memories flooded of names, places and customs from a land we livid in and grew to love for about 10 years.
We dream about visiting again…
This is the true story of two young German geologists who sought refuge in the Namib Desert for two and a half years, for the duration of
World War II because they did not want to be part of this war. Imprisonment was the other option.
‘We had taken a wild, desolate and magnificent tract of land, and made it our home. We had lived with the lovely beasts of the wilderness as few civilized men had ever done before us. We had lived savagely, as beasts of prey live…
We had learned that life could transmute bad into good, and extract both beauty and significance from ordinary things.’*
Delightful reading!
(*The Sheltering Desert: Henno Martin pg. 320)