Klaas-Douwe 'KD' B Dijkstra developed an interest in natural history as a child living in Egypt. Here he made his first observations of dragonflies as a 12-year-old, having to invent his own scientific names for them because he had no literature. The discovery of the first Anax ephippiger in The Netherlands in 1995 incited an active involvement in Dutch dragonfly work. KD was a founding member of the Dutch society for odonatology in 1997, as editor of its journal Brachytron, and co-edited and co-authored the handbook of Dutch Odonata published in 2002. He obtained an MSc in biology at Leiden University in 1998, developing a passion for Africa during fieldwork in Uganda in 1995. As a research associate of the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis in The Netherlands, KD has worked on the systematics and biogeography of tropical African Odonata since 2001. In 2005, he shared the Worldwide Dragonfly Association outstanding achievement award for this work.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Regional guide to dragonflies
Identification
Appendices
Index