The Compass

The sounds of the Namib Desert


Listen Later

Beginning with a few solo notes from a group of birds (including sparrow doves and finches) before the first light of day and ending with the sounds of the wind in the darkness of the night, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents a journey in sound from dawn to dusk in the Namib Desert in southern Africa.

The Namib is dominated by two features; the sand and the wind. Both of these are constantly shifting and changing and so too are the sounds they produce. The wind is hugely significant to the local community, the San, for whom it is linked with ideas of the spirit and breath of life and with scents and smells. The wind is a carrier of messages. There are good winds and bad winds. The sounds carried on the wind are an aural guide to life in the landscape.
The wind of course carries other sounds with it, and as on the Plains (the first programme in this series), local people use sound to survive here; to identify the whereabouts of predators and prey.
What is also fascinating about the desert are the micro-sounds that you can hear, including sand grains being blown by the wind, ants scurrying inside an acacia tree, and the slither of a side-winder snake as it buries itself in the dune. Then there are louder sounds, like the Namaqua Sandgrouse which gather to drink and bathe, or the night chorus of barking geckos; small reptiles that live in individual burrows which they use to amplify their songs, which then ring out across the desert and into the night.
And all the time, there is the wind, the sand and the eerie shifting sounds of the dunes.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The CompassBy BBC World Service

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

98 ratings


More shows like The Compass

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,412 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

381 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,843 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

162 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,909 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,782 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,050 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

344 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

901 Listeners

Witness History by BBC World Service

Witness History

963 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,925 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,081 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,905 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

248 Listeners

The Audio Long Read by The Guardian

The Audio Long Read

832 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

403 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

748 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

480 Listeners

How to Invent a Country by BBC Radio 4

How to Invent a Country

69 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,121 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

742 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,985 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

13,109 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,289 Listeners

Empire by Goalhanger

Empire

2,107 Listeners