Rooting for the underdog

“Môre, wolfies, môre!” Emsie Verwey calls out as she walks across a dune. I’m in hot pursuit, along with photographer Shelley Christians – we’re heading for a rocky outcrop on top of the next dune.

“I let them know I’m approaching, or they might get a fright when we arrive at the den,” says Emsie.

The closest sign of civilisation is the luxury Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, run by Wilderness Safaris, about 2 km to the south. Emsie is the research co-ordinator at the camp and also manages the Skeleton Coast Brown Hyaena Project. She works in a region that stretches from the confluence of the Obias and Hoanib rivers inland, to Möwe Bay on the coast – about 60km. She describes her research as follows: “Officially I monitor the movements of three brown hyena clans on the Skeleton Coast – the Hoanib River clan, the Hoanib floodplain clan and the Möwe clan. Unofficially, I try to change people’s minds about these misunderstood animals.”

She stops walking and takes out her binoculars. “Look, they’re coming out of the den,” she says, pointing to a sandy spot among the rocks. I