The origin of the so-called "fairy circles" has not yet been established. Carbon monoxide (as an indicator of a natural gas microseep) was monitored inside and outside of the selected fairy circles in the Namib, Namibia, Southern Africa. Hydrocarbons were extracted from the soil by a novel method for trapping analytes onto silicone rubber designed for thermal desorption into a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Keywords: fairy circle, hydrocarbon microseepage, mima mound (heuweltjies), polydimethylsiloxane sorptive extraction, termites, vegetation stress.