At one small village in Torra Conservancy, chairperson Tommy Adams told us that a pride of lions<\/a> had broken into a woman\u2019s poorly made kraal. \u201cMore than 100 goats were killed,\u201d he said. \u201cThat woman was crying on the ground. She said, \u2018Tommy they\u2019ve killed all my goats. Do you know how long it\u2019s taken me to build that herd? Now I have nothing.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n We camped that night on the edge of a dry riverbed. In the morning, I crawled out of my tent to see Garth intently studying the\u00a0ground nearby. \u201cBig male,\u201d he said. \u201cCouple of females. Cubs too.\u201d The tracks were barely 10m away.\u00a0<\/p>\n After another day\u2019s drive across harsh terrain, we camped at the foot of a rocky hill cut by a stream. As we sat around the fire, a lion began calling \u2013 a sawing, rasping sound that echoed off the rocks above. I crept into my tent with trepidation. <\/p>\n Next morning, Garth rose before me and noticed that I had barricaded the entrance with the camping chairs. \u201cIt\u2019s not the lions that you hear,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cIt\u2019s the lions you didn\u2019t hear.\u201d<\/p>\n I dwelled on those moments as I weaved towards an island of ana trees where a giraffe<\/a> and her calf browsed on seed pods. A male walking towards them stopped, studying me warily. I turned off the engine and marvelled at these giants. <\/p>\n Dwarfed by trees whose deep roots tap into the water table below, they depend on this lifeline for food. Without trees, they would not survive here, and neither would the lions that hunt them.<\/p>\n With little grazing in or around the valley, plains game are virtually absent, save for a small population of superbly adapted oryx. Yet the lions have carved out a way to survive. They travel west to the coast, some 45km from the valley\u2019s heart, to prey on fur seals, or head far inland in search of game or livestock. Within the valley itself, they have mastered the art of hunting giraffe<\/a>, one of Africa\u2019s most formidable prey species.<\/p>\n In his extensive studies on desert-adapted lions, researcher Philip Stander has documented a remarkable suite of strategies to tackle giraffes in an environment where prey is scarce and failure costly. Hunting in coalitions, the cats work together to isolate and exhaust the giraffes. They steer their quarry into softer sand where their long-legged strides become a liability rather than an advantage. <\/p>\n What follows is not the explosive ambush of a savannah<\/a> hunt, but a drawn-out pursuit that gradually saps the giraffes\u2019 strength. Closing in, the lions focus on the hindquarters, attempting to destabilise their prey, risking the fatal proximity of their brutal kicks before delivering a killer bite.<\/p>\n I had hoped to interview Philip but, as his former research assistant Emsie Verwey joked, he is such a desert hermit that finding him is like trying to find Bigfoot.<\/p>\n Emsie had left lion research and found her own passion in another remarkable creature. She had been working as manager of Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, one of just two safari camps in the valley, when a staff member told her about a pair of brown figures he had spotted nearby. On investigating, Emsie found what appeared to be a den. She set up a camera trap and the footage revealed a brown hyena lair. \u201cA female stuck her head down the hole and out came these two little cubs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Emsie visited every morning, observing the family through binoculars while also keeping the camera rolling. \u201cThat\u2019s when I began understanding what it took for these hyenas to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Locating a small number of clans in the area, she discovered that brown hyenas travel vast distances in extreme conditions in search of food. \u201cI noticed a female returning to her den with part of a zebra<\/a>,\u201d she says, \u201cbut the nearest herd was at least 50km away.\u201d<\/p>\n The hyenas\u2019 social lives in the den offer a contrast to their solitary foraging. There is grooming, interaction, a kind of cohesion. Cubs grow up in this harsh environment with an early understanding of distance and risk. When they leave the den after 12-15 months, the valley becomes both opportunity and threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Predators, competition and the sheer scale of the environment all conspire against them. Many die before they reach adulthood (two and a half years), particularly young males whose inclination to investigate rather than avoid proves costly.<\/p>\n Yet they persist, moving through the landscape as both participants and beneficiaries of its harsh economy. They are scavengers<\/a>, but such a description feels inadequate. In a place where nothing can be squandered, they are smart and proficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n They range as far as the fur seal colony to scavenge on carcasses \u2013 some from lion kills. Emsie told me of an encounter with a hyena she had named Bolt. \u201cDuring Covid lockdown I felt quite hopeless. I didn\u2019t know what I\u2019d do if hyenas weren\u2019t an option,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I could set my watch by Bolt. At 7am, he would be out at the seal colony. He got me out of bed in the mornings.\u201d <\/p>\n She was sitting watching him sleeping one moonlit night when he rose and came over to her, so close that she \u201ccould feel his warm breath on my face.\u201d Bolt investigated then moved on, an animal entirely at ease in a world that is, for most visitors, deeply unfamiliar. Emsie followed him into the night, listening to his footfalls and breathing.<\/p>\n I spent the next night at Hoanib Valley Camp, in the mouth of a secluded glen. It had been one of Garth\u2019s favourite camping spots; it was he that recommended the site to the safari company. From the large tents, the view over the riverbed to the distant hills is benign in the pink evening light. With a gin and tonic in hand, it even appears survivable. But it\u2019s a mirage, for humans at least.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another creature that has adapted to these harsh conditions is, improbably, the hungry, thirsty elephant. A man-made waterhole helps sustain elephants and other wildlife in the valley, as well as offering reliable viewing for camp guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n Further afield, elephants dig for water with their feet and trunks, and scale towering dunes to reach distant grasslands. Yet they are drawn back to the valley\u2019s waterhole and ana trees, for their moisture-rich roots and bark, and nutritious seed pods.\u00a0<\/p>\n I joined a morning game drive and we followed a small herd towards the waterhole. They moved slowly, looking impossibly small against the towering rock. As they approached the waterhole, they picked![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Lion-in-Hoanib.jpg\")
Frances Valdes\/ Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Giraffe-in-Hoanib.jpg\")
Thomas Retterath\/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
up speed, spurred by the lure of easily accessible water.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hear-of-elephants-in-hoanib-.jpg\")
Martyn Colbeck\/ Getty Images<\/p>\n