Set in southern Namibia, Great Namaqualand, ‘Bittersweet Karas Home’ is the story of three families, the Hills, Walsers & Hartungs, whose lives merge and intertwine in a semi-arid land that presents both hardship and blessings. Over the next few months, we would like to share this bittersweet saga with you from the (as yet) unpublished book.
The Walsers built a house in Ukamas, and wells, a windmill and a dam. Carl Wilhelm Walser became popular with the new German government. The German Paper of 1893 portrays a success story:
‘On this settlement, there is a German trader named Walser, living in extreme isolation from the world with his young wife. Walser’s farm clearly demonstrates what German industriousness and perseverance can achieve over time even under conditions that are not at all promising. Walser owns about a thousand cattle, divided among four cattle posts, in the vicinity of Ukamas, where the cattle are able to find copious fodder year in and year out. There is a difficulty in locating drinking water for the cattle because there is not a single fountain anywhere in the Ukamas region. Walser, however, knows how to tackle this problem and has dug three 15 to 18-metre-deep wells that are linked to channels in Ukamas. He makes use of a windmill for pumping water and the strength of oxen and donkeys. Two animals push a windlass, which activates an ingenious bucket-pump mechanism. Close to his cottage Walser has started a beautiful vegetable garden. Seeing this, even spoilt Europeans tend to wonder what can blossom as soon as you are sufficiently diligent and enterprising.’
Theodor Rehbock, eminent engineer and hydrologist, visited the Walsers in June 1897 at Ukamas, four years after this report. He noted the big dam that had been built into the bed of a small dry river and had already collected some 60 000 cubic metres of water. Twenty hectares of land had been cultivated and prepared for irrigation. The dam wall ended in a rock embankment on one side and linked up with a dune on the other side. Although the red dune sand of the Kalahari retains water well, it could be further improved by pounding the sand with the help of oxen. Carl Wilhelm did not think that an overflow was necessary because the last miles of the river towards the wall were even, but Rehbock convinced him it was and Carl Wilhelm increased the height of the wall and opened an overflow on the rocky side of the dam using dynamite.
Theodor Rehbock’s praise for his irrigation system pleased Carl Wilhelm immensely. It was almost like the first time his Uncle Emil sent him to negotiate business in London or how he felt looking at the brand-new brass sign ‘Hofmann & Walser Importing Company’ outside his office in Cape Town.
The years 1897, 1898 and 1899 were good rainfall years. The irrigation plans that Theodor Rehbock had seen unfolding came to fruition. There were fruit trees and a vineyard close to the dam. Tobacco, water- and honey-melon (spanspek) thrived. Tobacco plants grew to the height of 1.7 metres and melons weighed up to 19 kilograms. But, the Walsers also had their difficulties. They supplied wheat for Keetmanshoop and the Schutztruppe stations but lost the market to imported South African wheat meal because there were no grinding mills in the region. During the Afrikaner Oorlam uprising of 1897, German and Oorlam horses and oxen strayed onto their grain fields. Fortunately, the Walsers were compensated for this damage. Their vines also withered, possibly due to the eastern American root louse that seriously threatened wine industries around the world between 1870 and 1900.
Carl Wilhelm was not a farmer at heart, even though he acquired considerable knowledge and skills over the years. As a businessman he analysed commercial and productive requirements and worked out comprehensive plans. He employed farm managers like Hugo Friedmann to implement his ideas and farmed successfully on Ukamas, Gapütz, Zoutpütz and Arris for at least a decade. Dams, wells, windmills and watering troughs provided water in the barren landscape. Cattle were improved by breeding with imported Swiss pedigree bulls. Fruit, vegetables, even grapes were grown on irrigated fields.
Namaqualand farmers knew how to face inevitable environmental challenges like drought, floods – rain tended to either stay away or come down in torrents – and pests like locusts, as well as livestock diseases. Carl Wilhelm did not fare that well when adverse conditions affected the area but he persevered to the best of his ability.
A shop and a bar were an additional source of income and a great help in times of dire straits on the farm. Ukamas became a Schutztruppe station with police and border control functions. Schutztruppe soldiers developed an insatiable thirst for beer and hard liquor in the vast expanse of arid land and found comfort at the bar in their boredom and loneliness.
(Join us every Sunday to take a step back in time and follow the interesting, sometimes sweet, sometimes heart-wrenching tale.)