Habitats of Africa: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists - Princeton University Press

      The subtitle to the book, A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists, says it all. I wish that this work had been available on past trips to Africa that I have taken. Whatever one's field of interest - birds, mammals, butterflies and moths, other insects - habitat is key. Without habitat, or severely degraded habitat - life is seriously diminished or absent. 

     This work, it seems to me, is especially timely, as we witness terrible loss of habitat on a continent blessed with incredible diversity, and the consequent elimination of entire ecosystems. The megafauna receives a great deal of attention in the popular press, and everyone bemoans the extinction of rhinoceroses and the precipitous decline in big cats and elephants, but much more is going on. Africa's mammals are indeed vanishing, but so is everything else.

     From the loss of the tiniest wildflower, to the insects, reptiles, fish and vegetation that form a functioning ecosystem, we have cause to mourn.

     Africa's burgeoning population is growing at a frightening pace. Its population today stands at 1.5 billion, expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2050, a mere 25 years from now. Desertification is increasing and more and more land is wrested from nature and its life-giving support systems. Diversity is being obliterated by the day.

     For each habitat type the conservation status is reviewed. It is grim reading indeed. Permit me to quote from three examples, at random, viewed by simply opening the book.

P. 204 - Mavunda (warm, humid broadleaf forests) - this habitat is disappearing rapidly due to slash and burn agriculture.....once the habitat is burned and used for crops for one or two years the land becomes an ecological wasteland, and the forest does not return.

P. 211 - Malagasy deciduous forest - This habitat has been decimated by human activity. About 97% of the original forest has already been destroyed.

P. 311 - Strandveld - .....massive areas having been cleared for agriculture and coastal development.....

     I could cite many more. 

     This book does a magnificent job in presenting African habitat in all its head-spinning diversity - but go to see it while you can. Even the most fervent optimist cannot expect much of it to endure.

     Africa's loss is everyone's loss. The world's wildlife and its diverse habitats are the patrimony of us all. E.O. Wilson drew our attention to the plight when he wrote, "The world is in desperate condition. It is suffering steep declines in all levels of its diversity." We nodded in sombre agreement, some even shed a tear - and the world continued on its path of destruction.

     Habitats of Africa furnishes a soliloquy to the stunning beauty of Africa, in an act that seems doomed to end in tragedy.

     I am grateful that I have seen what was, and may never be again. And I am grateful to three distinguished authors for their dedication to a continent that captures the hearts of all who experience it. May it live forever in my memory.

Habitats of Africa: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists - Princeton University Press

Ken Behrens, Keith Barnes, and Iain Campbell

Paperback - US$35.00 - ISBN: 9780691244761

448 pages - 5.875 x 8.25 inches (14.69 x 20.625 cm)

Publication date: 11 February, 2025