Corona stories: Number 35 namibia 2017

Morenga

“There are also bright moments in dark times, which appear brighter the darker the times are” (Uwe Timm, Morenga)

When “Morenga” first was published in Germany in 1978 it nearly gave rise to a scandal. How could a German writer, Uwe Timm, dare to destroy the myth of an idyllic, bucolic german colony in Southwest-Africa, now Namibia? The book tells the story of the army veterinarian Gottschalk, who is sent to the colony to take care of the many animals involved in the fight against the uprise of the Nama (Hottentots) against german rule in the years 1904-1907. However, the book more is a collage where the story of Gottschalk is interwoven with extracts of military reports of the time found in german archives, indigenous and colonial legends and quotes relating to the natural history of the area. The book relentlessly unveils the atrocities of this unequal fight, where at times more than 5000 men on the german side faced 260 armed nama. As the story evolves, the doubts about the rightfulness of the german conquest and brutality against the indigenous population in Gottschalk increase. The fight becomes a struggle between Gottschalks conscience and his sense for duty and obedience towards his superiors and his county.

“A large area next to the kraal had been enclosed with barbed wire. Sentries were posted in front with fixed bayonets. Beyond the fence Gottschalk could see people, or rather skeletons, squatting—no, something halfway between humans and skeletons. They huddled together, mostly naked, in the piercingly hot sun” …. “[s]omeone had lettered a sign and hung it on the fence: Please don’t feed the animals” Uwe Timm, Morenga

Marenga is the leader of the Nama, a brilliant army leader as even the Germans admitted, who was called the black Napoleon. In Timm’s book, he mostly is invisible in the background, a mirage bringing horror and death, but never seen. The war cost the german taxpayer 584,78 million mark. On the other hand, in the year 1904/1905 the german colonial society for Southwest-Africa made a profit of 230.000 mark, in the following year 750.000. The war cost the lives of between 40,000 and 60,000 Herero and around 10,000 Nama and is now considered the first genocide of modern times.

The war against the Nama was fought in the southern part of Namibia, a desert of unbearable heat at daytime and freezing nights. A serene landscape full of aesthetic beauty for the traveller today and a hell for anybody who wants to earn a living or in distress or war. Endless sand dunes and inaccessible mountain ranges had to be crossed by such advanced means as horses and mules or the own feet of the combatants and ox carts for the equipment. Most of what was transported on the carts were provisions and fodder for the animals. The few water holes were well known by the Nama and favourite places of ambush. Like in other dry places camels were introduced to increase the independence from the water holes.

That way the war not only cost the lives of people but also of numerous horses, oxen and wildlife. Cattle was taken from beaten Nama groups and rather allowed to starve to death than given to their now imprisoned former owners to avoid their death by starvation. A sudden fashion for hat decoration by ostrich feathers led to the near extinction of these birds. The feathers were exchanged for brandy, which kept the locals in a constant state of intoxication.

“You will be able to follow our activities in this country for years: the skeletons of the dead animals along the way and the graves of the fallen are the milestones” Uwe Timm, Morenga

Swakopmund is still proud of the German heritage

“How do you want to colonize a country if you don't even bother to understand the natives?

– with an interpreter and a rhino-hide whip” Uwe Timm, Morenga

Many of the streets in Swakopmund still have German names

And the businesses have German traditions

The german colonisation of Southwest-Africa started with the establishment of missions and isolated settlements in the middle of the 19th century. Only in 1884 the area officially became a german colony. A consortium of bankers and investors established die Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika (german colonial society for Southwest-Africa) in 1885. There were probably never more than 11000 germans settlers in the huge area. Uprisings against the german rule occurred constantly until 1907 and were crushed with such brutality that the British neighbors in South Africa and even the parliament in Berlin protested. Eventually, with the start of WW I, troops occupied the colony from South Africa. Namibia was released into independence only in 1990.

"Altstadthof"

Today Namibia is one of the showcase counties of successful development in Africa. It is well managed, safe, the government has constant income from a variety of mining businesses and until recently tourism was booming, not the least because of the increasing problems in other sunny destinations on the southern hemisphere.

Modern Namibians in Windhoek

In the sparsely populated desert it is a good idea to rent a 4x4. They come equipped with a fridge, camping table and chairs, a stove and tent(s) on the roof. But the roads in this southern part of Namibia are a horror. In the best case we drive on corrugated gravel which makes you feel like you sit in a massage machine. The noise in the cabin is unbearable, the dust even finds it way inside past the closed windows. One of the locals tells us that you have to drive at least 100 km/h over this type of road to feel comfortable. I do not dare to go faster than 80 km/h. We pass a couple of overturned or wrecked 4x4’s – with a tent on the roof, that is rented by tourists. But the road can get even worse. In the Naucluft desert it is so bad that people drive in the deep sand on the bank. We have the feeling that the car slowly falls apart. The electricity starts failing, the bumper gets loose and I fix it with duct tape. This gives you a feeling how transport must have been when even these roads did not exist. Every gully was an impregnable barrier for an ox-cart. What we drive in a day on the bad road was a ride of 4 days on a good horse, maybe a day less on a camel. Much more for an ox-cart, and a horse alone could not carry the necessary amount of water and fodder. Even the narrow gauge light rail built by the germans to connect the ports of Swakopmund and Lüderitz with the interior were slow and prone to attacks, sand drifts or water shortages.

Most of the businesses in the country seem to be owned by white people. The shiny 4x4’s are driven by whites. Their workers sit on the load area of the pick up trucks. Everybody is friendly but there is a big difference between the white and the black neighbourhoods. Our campgrounds, which always have a private bathroom and kitchen area, are posher than most of the houses of the poor. The shops seem to exist in two different worlds. In the white neighbourhoods of the towns the properties are surrounded by solid walls of at least two meters high. Nobody walks in the street after sunset. Even short distances at night in Windhoek or Swakopmund are done by taxi. Even so the standard of living is relatively high, there are by far no equal opportunities for the different parts of the population. In particular in the north of the country life in the indigenous villages, where families try to make a living on the basis of little plots of land and a couple of cattle, seems to have changed little in the part hundred years. Although the general prosperity seems to be higher than in the corrupt, mismanaged neighbouring countries like Angola or Simbabwe, the consequences of colonisation are still visible everywhere.

Modern development in Windhoek

German street names in Windhoek

Strangely enough, the country nevertheless is proud of their german colonial history. Historic colonial buildings are restored and in many towns they have even kept the german street names. And of course there are breweries and german pubs selling pork. It is hardly perceptible how such a short and negative period (officially the time of german colonisation only lasted 30 years) can have such a long-lasting impact on the culture and perception of a people even generations afterwards. And how the negative experience can turn into a positive feeling for the former colonizer.

Old and new in Windhoek

"Tr. [General Trotha] says that the entire tribal area of the Herero should be crown land, that is, released for settlement. Allegedly the best land in the southwest, good pastures and a lot of water. A nice thought that there will be eyes in this wilderness who read Goethe and ears who hear Mozart."

(To end the Herero revolt General Trotha drove the tribe of the Herero into the waterless desert of the sand dunes and kept them there until most of them had starved to death….. ) Uwe Timm, Morenga

German church in Windhoek

Station and railway memorabila in front of the station in Windhoek

On the piste towards the southern desert

Campground in the area of Sossusvlei

A spot for a braai is always there

Sossusvlei

The famous dead trees of Sossusvlei

On of the highest sanddunes of Sossusvlei

“This land is like a stone and people die hungry and thirsty in it” Uwe Timm, Morenga

typical road in the South of Namibia

Dry gorge between Sossusvlei and Swakopmund

Desert road between Sossusvlei and Swakopmund

in the monotonous landscape you can easily overlook a turn

trees and shade are rare

Weaver bird nest in a tree

Phantom Tree (Moringa ovalifolia)

Where is my food? (Gemsbok, South African Oryx)

"the sand gnashed between his teeth" Uwe Timm, Morenga

Springbok in the desert

Solitaire, a truck stop in the desert

Remainders of a railway track near Swakopmund

Petroglyphs near Twyfelfontein

near Madisa Camp

Village in the Caprivi strip

sweeping a ground of dust - Sisyphus at work

Preparing reeds for the roof

Carrying water from the well

Hut of an 18 year old girl who just gave birth. She has to stay in the hut alone for weeks

Before the wheel was invented

“Colonialism and imperialism did not only mean rule over humans but rule by and over animals too. There would not be imperial conquests without animals. Animals are the requirement for imperial processes, with which they are interwoven in diverse ways. Imperial processes are changed by animals and influence them at the same time” Uwe Timm, Morenga