Wow! Wish I lived in Oz too! But..I don't. Hoodia would not do well here indoors (imho). However, thanks for the great shots!

The Kalahari is also not desert... Karoo is usually called semi-desert at best and as you can see the kalahari as typical red sands, but also trees (acacias) and some thicker bush, whereas the karoo has very little trees and low tough bushes, which is herbaceous and makes lamb taste wonderful (by the way)! There is a old story which explains things more: Karoo/Kalahari hardens you and prepares you for the real desert - Namib desert! Unfortunately I do not have pics loaded of Namib, but thats real sand only desert, I spend some time sitting on a dune with nothing around, but sand and more dunes - it was a liberating experience that makes you realize how fragile you really are!

I'm probably not going to be much help. I saw a lot of commercials over the holidays about it. It was the first I heard of it. After what happened with the appetite suppressents back in the 90's that resulted in a lot of heart problems, I'm afraid of them. Plus the commercials had people claiming to be doctors endorsing it. From what I have heard, often those people are paid to endorse it and haven't done clinical studies of them. I'm trying to lose 30 pounds on weight watchers. It is coming off slowly. All I can tell you is that I truly don't get hungry if I eat the proper foods all day. When I get ravenous is when I have been hitting the empty calories (such as candy, white bread, fried foods, etc) and I don't stay satisfied long enough. I would like it if there were some sort of magical pill that could be the solution and maybe one day it will be here. Wikipedia has some good info on hoodia's history, and some cautions. The two most important cautions are typical of these supplements. One - no scientific proof that it works, and Two - a lot of companies claim their pill contains the ingredient but it does not. Some of the article here: Published scientific reports Whether hoodia works as an appetite suppressant has not been scientifically proven. No published peer-reviewed double-blind clinical trials have been performed on humans to investigate the safety or effectiveness of Hoodia gordonii in pill form as a nutritional supplement. One scientific study has been published in which the extract was injected directly into the brains of rats.[8] The author of the rat study said that P57 was easily broken down by the liver, so it might be hard to take in enough of it to ensure that it had an effect. MacLean cautioned that currently available supplements might be inadequate, stating "I question whether there is really enough of the active ingredient in there to do much."[9] Press coverage The press coverage and heavy marketing by nutritional supplement companies have created such a demand for Hoodia plants that a protected status was imposed in several countries like Namibia. Many products claiming to contain Hoodia do not actually contain the active ingredient alleged to suppress appetite. Only the South African product has the claimed properties. An ongoing review of Hoodia pills by Alkemists Pharmaceuticals found that at least half of the products advertised as containing Hoodia contained none.[10] In March 2006, Consumer Reports investigated the dietary supplement and concluded, "This weight loss drug lacks the clinical evidence for the Consumer Reports experts to recommend this product."[11] Marketing and spam Lack of scientific evidence or regulatory approval have not stopped dietary supplement companies from marketing Hoodia gordonii extracts with claims that it can lower blood pressure and reduce the appetite. Goen Technologies Corporation's TrimSpa unit began marketing Hoodia gordonii under the brand name X32 with celebrity spokesperson Anna Nicole Smith, even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified Trimspa that it has not demonstrated that claims for their product are scientifically supportable.[12] Health Canada has not approved any hoodia products for sale.[13] Goen Technologies has also been sued by the state of New Jersey for misleading consumers.[14] The Trimspa brand is currently the subject of a lawsuit in California which claims that it does not contain any of Hoodia's active ingredient.[10] In March to June of 2006, billions of email spam messages were sent out concerning Hoodia, ostensibly offering Hoodia extracts for weight control purposes. As is usually the case with spam, it is not clear what prompted the sudden barrage of messages, since there had not been any recent positive media coverage about Hoodia, nor any signs of increasing public interest in Hoodia. The Federal Trade Commission has logged numerous complaints of consumer fraud associated with Hoodia and the number is expected to continue to rise.[10] In December 2004, Unilever entered into an agreement with Phytopharm to start marketing Hoodia gordonii commercially in the form of shakes and diet bars.[15] On July 1, 2006, it was reported on entertainment news show Extra that a company is now marketing Hoodia-enhanced lollipops.[16] There are many so-called "consumer research" websites claiming to show consumer reviews and testimonials. The legitimacy and accuracy of any of these websites are unknown. In addition to massive spam campaigns, there have been many reports of over-hyped and sometimes misleading marketing associated with websites selling and/or promoting Hoodia-related products. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to whole article

Interesting !!