Documenting a lost ecosystem

Abstract

The relatively recent, and ongoing, destruction of earth's wildlife is an unfortunate feature of today's world. Over large areas of South Africa, once plentiful populations of wild mammals have been eradicated or reduced to small relict populations in protected areas or on privately owned land. These changes have not been trivial, and it is often difficult to conceive the degree to which ecosystems have been transformed in a relatively short time. To have a concise, authoritative and comprehensive account of the conditions that prevailed in the recent past is an important step to understanding the ecology of any given region. In the case of the Free State and Lesotho, Andre Boshoff and Graham Kerley have produced a record for this region's grassland ecosystems, based on the eyewitness accounts and the illustrations of early literate travellers. Their book follows the publication of two volumes on a similar topic by C.J. Skead, one that dealt with the Eastern Cape and one with the Western and Northern Cape.