The Last One Standing

For this week’s landscape photo, I chose a photo taken in the Richtersveld. The Richtersveld is a semi-desert area in the north-western corner of South Africa, bordering Namibia.

I found the starkness of this area very inspiring for my type of landscape photography and already visited it on several occasions.

This photo was taken in the National Park in an area called "Kokerboom Vallei" (translated Quiver Tree Valley).

On the last visit, I was shocked to find that more than half the Quiver trees are dead. On my return an asked around and also did some research on the Internet and apparently this is just one of the many visible signs of the rapid climate change we are experiencing worldwide.

The progress of decay of this cluster of 3 dead Quiver trees, was what drew my attention to this specific scene. The one to the right and behind (at 2 o'clock) is almost reduced to a pile of rubble and was most likely the one who died first, followed by the one in the foreground. The remaining standing one is also dead which is apparent when compared to the other trees in the background as this one does not have any leaves left.

(I have tagged this for the weekly landscape photo challenge curated by @juliank.)