Once in lock down, the inscrutable Diamond Coast is now open to tourism. What was hidden behind razor wire and security patrols it is now accessible to ordinary citizens. And what treasure it reveals!

Situated in a narrow strip known as the Strandveld, the Diamond Coast is host to many of the Succulent Karoo plant species – a global biodiversity hotspot.

The Succulent Karoo comprises 6,356 different plants, of which 40% are endemic. This in a harsh, arid environment, where one sheep requires 5,000 hectares of land to support it. The diversity is so extraordinary that you’ll find one species endemic to a small 100 square metre patch of earth.

The adaptations that all forms of life have made to survive in this harsh landscape are revelationary. The surprises take your breath away. For example, Euphorbia morantanica is a deciduous evergreen. Yes, that’s right it goes both ways! Losing its leaves in summer to reduce transpiration and retaining chlorophyll in its stem to continue photosynthesis. Or how about the Namaqua Dwarf Adder, the world’s smallest viper, that collects the fog rolling off the Atlantic Ocean on its scales to drink?

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2010 is a significant year for Africa. The pride that the first time hosting of the FIFA world cup brings is tangible. “Ke Nako” is the refrain. It is Time – to be acknowledged, to be recognised, to take our place on the world stage.

What is less on our minds is the fact that 2010 has been declared as the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. The rapid loss in biodiversity on the planet gave rise to this attention-getting intiative. Species extinctions are almost a daily occurrence, and they are only the ones we know about – there are many more, unknown to science or beneath the surface of our awareness that we remain ignorant of. The real scary part is that these extinctions are, in almost all cases, caused by human beings.

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I recently met a South African who’d spent some time living with the locals on the coast of Kenya at Malindi. He’s a keen spear fisherman and likes to take time out from his stressful job (that sends him to all corners of our continent) to spend time with other Africans.

While in Kenya he listened to the native drums, which asserted that all along the Swahili coast, fish stocks were on the increase.

The upsurge in Somali piracy has had an unintended benefit, fish numbers have started to revive, as fewer foreign trawlers are willing to risk East African waters.

What a difference to the usual consequence of African lawlessness, where plummeting numbers are the norm when the human wheels fall off (e.g. DRC and Zimbabwe).

The critical question, of course, is who is the plunderer?

Outsider (regional and foreign) rapaciousness is the killer. Sensible and controlled temperance is clearly a relief to natural resources and, by consequence, to the humans who rely directly upon them.

I can’t help but ask how Asians and Westerners would feel if Africans started stripping their natural resources. Would this be the moment, then, for Africa to take heed of the history lessons, and save the planet?