Conrad Brain was a renowned veterinarian, pilot and conservationist in Namibia, who died suddenly from a suspected heart attack on November 24, 2025, aged 62.
He matriculated at Boys High in 1981, one of 15 from Solomon House, and then after studying at Onderstepoort, he moved to Namibia to do a PhD, studying the conservation physiology of a small baboon troop trapped in the lower reaches of the Kuiseb River in the Namib Desert.
He habituated the troop by living with it, in the usually dry riverbed, despite the constant threat of hyenas and was assigned a position in the male rankings of the troop.
He learnt enough about baboon vocal communication to know in advance what the intentions of the troop were and his research became the subject of a television film called ‘Baboons Against the Odds’ (1997).
After graduating, Brain joined the Etosha Ecological Institute and became the chief veterinarian of Etosha National Park.
To fulfil his duties in the park, he obtained his pilot’s licence, which he later upgraded to a commercial pilot’s licence. He flew from Etosha with a load of immobilised lions that became the founder population of the Pilanesberg National Park.
After a spell in Etosha, he joined Wilderness Safaris in Namibia in the dual role of conservationist and pilot/guide, flying tourists between remote safari destinations in sub-Saharan Africa.
While with Wilderness Safaris, he worked with researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, on the biology of desert ungulates (hoofed animals) in Namibia.
Later, he helped to establish, and then led, Ecowings Namibia, which “deployed aerial surveillance to combat wildlife crime and bolster ongoing conservation” in Namibia.
He was married to American film-maker Ginger Mauney, who lived with him at the Kuiseb River, and who survives him, as does their son Kimber.
Brain was the son of the late CK ‘Bob’ Brain, the former director of the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, which is now the National Museum of Natural History.
His brother Tim, now a physican in East London, also went to Boys’ High, matriculating in the class of 1979.
Although we have all gone our separate ways, there remains a sense of brotherhood on the odd occasions the Solomon House matrics of 1981 have seen each other in the more than 40 years since leaving school. Nad was one of the few of the 15 I have not seen since school, but all were aware of his prestigious achievements through catch-ups with others, and it was a shock to lose someone who had been a close part of those formative years of your life, even if there had been no contact since 1981.
To recall his achievements, I have taken the above information from several obituaries published in Namibia where he forged an impressive reputation – Submitted by Mark Gleeson
