If you have ever driven from Windhoek to Tsumeb or Grootfontein, via Okahandja and Otjiwarongo, you will have noticed that much of the landscape around you is dominated by bush. Visitors to Namibia driving this route will be struck by how few people and buildings they encounter. The seemingly endless tracts of farmland give the impression of wilderness. What you may not realise is that the dense bush all around you represents one of the greatest agricultural and ecological challenges facing Namibia today. A bush, as opposed to a tree, is defined as a woody plant that rarely grows taller than 10 feet, and usually has multiple stems rather than one long trunk. The thorny bush species like Black Thorn and Sickle Bush grow so densely in places that it would be difficult to walk through some of the farms you encounter on the journey north, although non-thorny species like Mopane and Cluster-Leaf Terminalia dominate the landscape around Outjo and Gobabis, respectively. The bushes mentioned here are indigenous to Namibia, which begs the question - why is this issue, known as bush encroachment or thickening, considered a problem?