Noordoewer

Noordoewer means north bank, and the name carries the story: in 1890 Germany and Britain drew the line between their colonies along the northern bank of the Orange River, and the village sits where the main road from the Cape crosses it. The land around was Nama country, and the river valley has since become one of the biggest table grape growing areas in southern Africa.

1. 1779

   Early inhabitants called the river Kai ǃArib, the Great River, which is where the Afrikaans name Gariep comes from. In 1779 Robert Gordon, commander of the Dutch East India Company garrison at the Cape, named it after William V of Orange. The colour of the water has nothing to do with it. source

2. 1800s

   The Bondelswarts (today the ǃGamiǂnun), a Nama clan, once lived on both sides of the Orange but moved north of it to keep clear of the Cape government. By the third quarter of the 1800s they held about 40,000 square km, from the river north to beyond the Great Karas Mountains and west to the Fish River. source

3. 1890

   The Heligoland to Zanzibar Treaty between Germany and Britain fixed the southern edge of German South West Africa (a German colony since 1884) along the northern bank of the Orange River, so the water stayed on the British side. source

4. 1903 to 1908

   Late in 1903 German troops were sent to the far south to put down a Bondelswarts rising, leaving the north short of soldiers, and the Herero rose on 12 January 1904. In the war that followed about 80% of the Herero and half of the Nama died, many of them in concentration camps, a genocide that Germany has since acknowledged. source

5. 1915 to 1922

   South Africa took the colony in the First World War and ruled it as South West Africa. In 1922 its administrator sent about 400 armed men and aircraft to bomb the Bondelswarts, with orders to cut off their retreat to the mountains along the Orange, and about 100 Bondelswarts were killed. source

6. 1960 to 1990

   South Africa applied apartheid in the territory. SWAPO, formed in 1960, led the long fight against South African rule, which included years of war, and Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990. source

7. 1988

   Dušan Vasiljević, a Serbian immigrant, bought the Aussenkehr farm and turned it over to table grapes. There were 150 hectares under irrigation in 1991 and about 2,000 later on, and a workers' settlement of many thousands grew up beside the vines. source

8. 1992 to 1998

   In the first local elections after independence, in 1992, Noordoewer was a village with a seven seat council and only 200 people voted (SWAPO won six seats). It lost its village status before the 1998 elections and came under the ǁKaras Regional Council. source

Language

Afrikaans and Khoekhoegowab (Nama) are the long established languages of the south. In the 2023 census Afrikaans was the main home language in 31.8% of ǁKaras households, Khoekhoegowab in 17.8% and Oshikwanyama in 14.2%. Karasburg West, the constituency Noordoewer belongs to, is different: there more households speak Oshikwanyama or Rukwangali at home than Afrikaans. source

Grape country

Life in the valley follows the grape harvest. Aussenkehr has about 6,000 permanent residents, and at picking time the number rises to around 30,000 as seasonal workers arrive. The grapes go mainly to Europe. source

River trips

Canoeing on the Orange is the area's tourist trade. Amanzi Trails, which has a river camp about 10 km from the village, runs guided trips of three to four days from 16 km below the border post down to Aussenkehr or Grootpens, camping on the bank each night. source