Is there a fountain/spring

[Gerda Cloete]

Will come and ask for directions next weekend Michael.... would like to see it.

[Malcolm Bertoni]

Just to add . . . .

There seemed to be plenty of water in the Sperrgebiet during the past, with communities close by.  There were Nama villages near Elizabeth Bay, Luderitz, Hottentots Bay,  Douglas Bay, van Reenens Bay, near the Klinghardt mountains and Angras Juntas Bay. Chameis Bay and Affenrucken springs were also used. There were much larger settlements further inland.

There was a big village at the mouth of the river and settlements all along both sides of the river and also at Arris Drift and Sendelings Drift.  Dunvlei also had an interesting history - it was possibly an island with a lagoon that eventually became part od the southern river bank.

By the way todays Sendelings Drift is not the location of the original Sendelings Drift.  The old Sendelings Drift where all the explorers crossed in Namibia was about 8-9 km further downstream near where the old German police station is.  Todays Sendelings Drift was called Numedamas in the past.  By about 1850 the river had changed its course and the original drift disappeared. So Numedamas was used.

Malcolm

[Michael Alexander]

What happened to the original inhabitants?

[Malcolm Bertoni]

Briefly, Mike – I don't know

Like much of southern Africa, the Namas moved on when the colonists and settlers started expanding into their areas and of course in Namibia the Germans took over.

Also there was plenty of fighting between the various Khoikhoi clans and tribes (of which the Namas were one) and the Bushmen.
Most of the villages and settlements had disappeared by 1900 as their social structure broke down and their land was seized. Today there's no Nama settlements left between the coast from the Orange River to Walvis Bay, with no traces left in the Sperrgebiet.  Only in the Richtersveldt are there some traditional Nama settlements - but this is also disappearing.

There also seemed to be more water in the Sperrgebiet in the past and fossils that have been found near Bogenfels, Grillenthal and Elizabeth Bay are similar to those found in the equatorial-zone mountain forests of Kenya. From fossils found at Arrisdrif, it seemed that the river region was warmer and wetter, more heavily vegetated with woodlands and that the sea level was much higher, with the river mouth only a few kilometres away.  Also lizards found today on the mountains such as the Aurus Mountains, are related to species which only occur in higher rainfall regions.  These lizards could not have reached the isolated mountain ranges (inselbergs) under present-day conditions, supporting the theory that the region previously received more rain.


Most of the waterholes in the Sperrgebiet are now partially dry and the water is of poor quality - certainly not enough to support villages. There were springs at Grillenthal, Chameis, Affenrucken (which still exists), Kaukausib, Buntfeldschuh and the Klinghardt Mountains.  The Obib spring is also still going.   North of Luderitz there was freshwater springs at Douglas Bay and further east of Luderitz a swell.  So there seems to be much more water than there is now.

Malcolm