TransNamib: Dimensions of a Desert. Gabi Christa

It is pleasant to feel the water flowing along my body. But I must pay attention so that I am not washed away, hardly one hundred metres on are the first rapids.

      The landscape along the Orange River is a natural paradise; its banks are green and lined with sparsely vegetated mountains. But development will have it that this area, which can still be accessed for free, will soon become a park with entrance fees.[3]

      Pay kiosks have already been set up and on big brochures the cross-border project, the Richtersveld-Ai-Ais Transfrontier Park, is explained. The road to Sendelingsdrif is closed due to construction work and flooding. For our return journey, we have planned to re-enter South Africa here, using the pontoon ferry. Today, our route leads us further, past Rosh Pinah and along the eastern border of the restricted area to Aus.

      Snow in the Desert, Aus

      Looking for the meaning of this name, I find diverse information. Once, in the Nama language, I find that it means a bitter bush, under other circumstances, Aus has been allocated the exciting meaning of “Place of the Snakes”. Tonight, it is the place of the scorpions. A strong wind hits the campfire and whips the flames high up into the sky, so that the sparks fly in all directions. One creature dashes about the table legs and nervously we see that it is a light-brown, yellowish scorpion. The more we flash our torch, the more scorpions we discover. The Cape Scorpion (Buthidae parabuthus capensis) has got small pincers and a thick tail and is dangerous. The flash of the torch confuses the creatures; agitated, they erect their tails and speed past the table legs, one left, one right. I immediately pull my feet up on to the chair and I am happy to have a rooftop tent available to sleep in and not the animated ground.

      During the diamond rush, Aus formed an important link between Keetmanshoop and Lüderitz. When transport was provided by ox and horse wagon, it was the last provisioning post before the very demanding journey through the desert. It came as a great relief, when, after a mere three months of construction, the rail connection between Lüderitz and Aus was established in 1906/07. Today, we see only broken rails lying around. For ten years already, they have been working on the railroad and it is due to be completed in 2015. Until then, goods traffic from Keetmanshoop has to end at Aus and all of the transport through the desert to Lüderitz must travel on the well-developed B4 road. The small settlement of Aus in the Namib Desert lies at 1.485 metres above sea level on the edge of the Huib Plateau. There are few places in Namibia where you can expect snow every two or three years but Aus is one of those. I am longing for some snow; it has been hot already all day and even the night will not bring the coolness I hope for. The pictures in the guesthouse look Utopian. They depict the area around Aus as a winter landscape with snow-covered houses.

      At the end of World War I, the former base of the German Schutztruppe troops was converted and after the surrender in 1915 served as a detention camp. More than 1.550 Germans were detained here. In the beginning, the prisoners were accommodated in tents. Suffering from the harsh climate, they were allowed to set up decent clay brick houses. The prisoners went to work in their traditional German way. They had piped water installed and in the small gardens vegetables were grown successfully. The remaining ruins, at a distance from the centre of Aus, are today a national monument. Although in the houses the prisoners were better off than in the tents, many didn’t survive. What a strange irony of war. In the graveyard the former enemies are buried together with the deceased inhabitants of Aus. In 1918, the Spanish Flu came raging even here and killed thousands within a few months. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June, 1919, the last prisoners of war were set free. In the Treaty of Versailles Germany had to renounce all her rights and claims concerning any overseas property to the allied and associated powers. As a consequence, many Germans were dispossessed and deported to Germany. But as a result of good co-operation with the South Africans, those who stayed and those who returned were compensated for. Today, Aus is an insignificant settlement along the B4 leading from Keetmanshoop to Lüderitz. To the right, the road defines the southern end of the Namib-Naukluft-Park.

      The Heart of the Namib

      Not far from Aus, at the Garub Mountain, a wide area was reserved for wild horses. Since 1986, it has been part of the Namib-Naukluft-Park. There has been much talk about the origin of the horses in the desert and there is a wide range of opinions about their lineage. To me, the most probable answer is that they are the offspring of the riding horses of the German Schutztruppe and are of the Kreplin breed. But, the horses might easily stem from the legacy of the lord of the castle of Duwisib, Hans-Heinrich von Wolf. He imported more than 300 Trakehner horses. After his death, his wife returned to America, probably without the horses. One of the more swashbuckling theories is the following: that a ship carrying a cargo of breeding horses was wrecked in the mouth of the Orange River and the horses swam ashore. Hence, these proud animals could actually be flotsam. An artificial water hole was installed for the horses to prevent certain death by thirst in the desert. Now the well is deserted and no horses are to be seen. What I expect to be a horse, spotted on the horizon through the binoculars, turns out to be a lonesome Ostrich.

      B4, Sperrgebiet 1 to the left, Sperrgebiet 2 and Namib-Naukluft-Park to the right

      Measuring 49.768 square kilometres, the park is one of the largest in Africa. It forms the heart of the Namib Desert. The Naukluft Mountains, rising 1.965 metres, the Bushman Hill, 1.609 metres, and the Chowaga Mountain, 2.063 metres, are the highest elevations in the Namib-Naukluft-Park. Within the park, we find great potential for our tour exploring the different dimensions of the Namib Desert and we plan to stay here for longer.

      The southern park border runs from Aus to Lüderitz; to the north, the park extends up to Swakopmund. At Swakopmund, it joins the Skeleton Coast Park, which, in turn, reaches up to the Angolan border. There, the Parque Nacional do Iona and the Reserva Parcial de Namibe ensure the protection of the Namib Desert.

      Only creatures well adapted to the dry desert climate thrive in the Namib. These include the scorpions which I am not very fond of as well as snakes, beetles, reptiles, Mountain Zebras and springbok. But no other animal can compete with the proud Oryx antelope for my sympathy. As far as survival in the desert is concerned, the Oryx is perfectly equipped. Its body temperature adapts to the ambient temperature up to 45 degrees. It always keeps cool because the blood which circulates through its brain is first chilled in its nasal tract. In the west, the full length of the Namib Desert borders the Atlantic Ocean. That is why seals are part of the diet of jackals and hyenas. In the glittering light black spots are dancing across the sands: Ostriches, the only creatures we get to see in the park today.

      The declaration of the Sperrgebiet Diamond Areas in the Namib Desert

      At Grasplatz the sand is blown about, no trees, no shrubs, not to speak of grass, grow at this spot in the middle of the desert. Whence the name? No more than a peeling signboard and a ruin mark the place where August Stauch’s story began. At a time when, between Aus and Lüderitz, goods were transported by ox wagons, fodder for the oxen – grass - was kept here, hence the name.

      Grasplatz, the Starting Point of the Diamond Story

      Stauch was an athletic, handsome, modest and able man, and a caring father. On 15 April 1904 he married Ida Schwerin. Two kids were born, Hans and Marianne, followed by Helmuth and Käthe. It wasn’t an easy decision for the father of the family to go to Deutsch-Südwest. Financial troubles, however, forced him to do so. In May 1907, Stauch disembarked in the inhospitable harbour of Lüderitz bay. The site of his mission was located 24 kilometres outside of Lüderitz, along the 104-kilometre railway line between Lüderitz and Aus. Construction had started in 1905 and had been accomplished seven months later, the material for it having been shipped from Germany. Together with support staff, Stauch was in charge of keeping a certain section of the railway line free from sand. The necessity for this is obvious. Persistent strong winds make a dune