Otjozondjupa

Otjozondjupa is where the Herero war against German rule reached its turning point, at the Ohamakari waterhole below the Waterberg in August 1904, and where the genocide that followed began. Its far east is the home of the Juǀʼhoansi San, whom the American filmmaker John Marshall filmed from 1950. Knowing that past changes how the Waterberg, the war graves and the San villages read.

1. Several thousand years ago

   The San were the first people at the Waterberg and left rock engravings there that are believed to be several thousand years old. source

2. 1896

   Kahimemua Nguvauva, chief of the Mbanderu (a branch of the Herero), was sentenced to death after a quarrel with the Germans over a boundary in the Gobabis district, and was shot by the Schutztruppe, the German colonial army, on the bank of the Okahandja river. In the same year the Schutztruppe built the fort at Grootfontein. source

3. 11 August 1904

   In August 1904, months into the Herero war against German rule, more than 60,000 Herero and their herds had gathered at the Waterberg. Lothar von Trotha attacked on 11 August. The Herero call it the battle of Ohamakari, after the waterhole where the fighting centred, and most of them broke out to the south-east into the Omaheke sandveld. source

4. 1904 to 1908

   Von Trotha, acting on his own authority, issued an extermination order against the Herero, and most of those who had fled into the Omaheke died there of thirst, hunger or German killings. Between 40,000 and 80,000 Herero (about 80 percent of the people) and some 10,000 Nama died in the genocide, and about 1,000 Herero, Samuel Maharero among them, reached British Bechuanaland (now Botswana). source

5. 9 July 1915

   In the First World War the German forces in the territory surrendered unconditionally to General Louis Botha's South African troops at Khorab, just north of Otavi. The Treaty of Khorab ended German rule in what was then German South West Africa. source

6. 1976 to 1989

   In 1976 South Africa's apartheid government proclaimed Bushmanland, a homeland meant for the San. No San government was ever set up, only an advisory council in 1986. The homelands gave way in 1980 to ethnic administrations, which were abolished in May 1989 as the move to independence began. source

7. 21 March 1990

   The UN recognised SWAPO (the South West Africa People's Organisation) as the representative of the Namibian people in 1973, and on 21 March 1990 Namibia became independent from South Africa, with Sam Nujoma sworn in as its first president. source

8. February 1998

   The Nyae Nyae Conservancy around Tsumkwe, about 9,000 km² run by roughly 2,000 Juǀʼhoansi, was gazetted on 16 February 1998 and became the first in Namibia to earn from the communal conservancy programme, which lets rural communities manage and benefit from their wildlife. source

Languages

At the 2023 census Otjiherero was the main home language in 25.8 percent of households, followed by Khoekhoegowab (the Nama and Damara language) at 17.0 percent, Oshikwanyama at 14.2 percent, Afrikaans at 9.3 percent, Oshindonga at 5.3 percent and English at 5.1 percent. source

Herero remembrance

Herero descendants remember Ohamakari at Okakarara, about 110 km east of Otjiwarongo, near the graves of those who died. In May 2026 the governor's office organised the region's first Genocide Remembrance Day commemoration there, opening with a panel discussion, with horse riding and drills by Herero troops on the programme. source

San culture

At the Living Museum in Grashoek, Juǀʼhoansi San in traditional dress show the old hunter-gatherer way of life. Most of the programme is hands on (bow and arrow, a Juǀʼhoan skipping game, singing), and a guide puts it all into English. They call it ǀXao-o Juǀʼhoansi-Ga, the life of the Juǀʼhoansi. source

German-speaking Namibians

Otjiwarongo is one of the Namibian towns with a large German-speaking community, and German style buildings show it. Its Donatus School was once the Deutsche Schule Otjiwarongo. source