WWF ISSUE: Summer 2023

Sharing Space

Communities lead the way to a new era of landscape-scale conservation

STORY BY Di Tipping-Woods/PHOTOGRAPHY BY CreativeLAB

The sounds of squabbling baboons and squawking guinea fowl greet Tjavarekua Tjijahura as she rises to prepare breakfast and break camp. She is wearing the traditional clothes of Ovaherero women—petticoats, a voluminous dress with vibrant patterns, and a hornlike headscarf that pays homage to part of her identity: The Ovaherero people are historically cattle breeders, and raising livestock is a common way of life. While the campsite is far from Tjijahura’s village, she says she feels an affinity for this vast landscape. Like many Namibians, she grew up surrounded by wild places and wild animals. “Although we have cattle, we have always lived as conservationists,” Tjijahura says.

Nature, it’s clear, is home.

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