After centuries of relative isolation, the Karoo – South Africa’s parched heartland – is a latecomer to the tourist industry. What was once viewed as a harsh and desolate place of limited attraction is rapidly gaining popularity with visitors who now make the Karoo their destination, keen to partake of its legendary charm, its extraordinary flora and the resurgence of wildlife that once again populates its plains.

Wild Karoo documents Mitch Reardon’s 4,000-kilometre journey of discovery through the region. The book focuses on:

• local nature conservation in all its facets
• the game, large and small – some recently reintroduced – plus birds, reptiles and invertebrates
• the unique, arid-adapted flora
• the landscape and geology
• the history and lifestyle of the people who have made a home here
• plans to combine public and private protected land to create wildlife corridors between isolated parks, re-establishing old migration routes and so reversing some of the effects of human settlement

Beautifully written, and illustrated with evocative photographs, this book is a must read for anyone interested in travel, wildlife and the environment.

More than a century ago elephants in the eastern Cape were systematically hunted - until only 16 were left . Today there are 650 elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park, the densest concentration of wild elephants anywhere on the planet. While elephants are undoubtedly still the park's top drawcard, the past four decades have seen the emphasis shift from protecting a single species to conserving five biomes and the wild animals that occupy them. Today, Addo can boast the Big Seven: elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino, as well as great white shark and southern right whale.

Like Shaping Kruger, its successful predecessor, Shaping Addo expertly delves into the history of the park, detailing the positive impact that changing conservation practices have had on its development. Drawing on decades of groundbreaking research, the author provides fascinating insight into the lives and habits of the animals (both terrestrial and marine), examining individual species, the relationship between them, and the carefully crafted management strategies required to ensure the survival of all species.

Shaping Addo is an engrossing account of how a seemingly insigni cant sanctuary was transformed into an astonishingly successful mega-park, and the most ecologically diverse protected space in South Africa.

The Kruger National Park is one of the world’s leading stewards of biological diversity. Its management requires ongoing monitoring and re-evaulation to ensure that species survive.

Shaping Kruger provides fascinating insight into the lives, habits and behaviour of the larger animals that significantly affect the workings of the park. It expertly synthesizes decades of ground-breaking research into the animals and their environment, examining along the way individual species; predator-prey relationships; mammal distribution, and browsing and grazing interactions.

This detailed look at how Park management has had to interpret, monitor and adapt the processes that allow species to survive – even thrive – in an ever-changing environment makes for an intriguing and enlightening read.