As a person of a more natural-sciences orientation, my work in the Paulshoek project forms part of a larger investigation of the impact of livestock grazing on the vegetation of the range. The grazing practices of the communal areas, which comprise 25 percent of Namaqualand's area, are considered to be the main threat to the incredible diversity of plants in this region. Because the land is communally owned, everyone has the right to graze as many animals as he or she wants, with the result that the number of animals in the area is much higher than what scientists' best estimates suggest is sustainable. Livestock husbandry is conducted in a traditional manner. Herders follow their herds during the day, then return them to a paddock, or kraal , at night.
Herders typically live in a small hut and kookskerm adjacent to the kraal .
The kraal I am focusing on belongs to a herder named Sors Cloete. The dogs exuberantly compete for our attention as we climb out of the bakkie . We enter Sors's kookskerm and take a seat, each of us on an upturned bucket, as Sors prods his breakfast fire and rolls a cigarette out of tobacco and newspaper. Like almost everyone who lives in the Communal Area, Sors is small and slender with strikingly high cheekbones, evidence of his Khoi ancestry. His wife and four children live in Paulshoek village, only about 10 kilometers away, but with no transportation they can only visit every second weekend.