If you’ve ever wondered about the name given to Namibia’s famous rock engravings, ‘Twyfelfontein’, the Afrikaans word for ‘Doubtful Spring’, then wonder no more. It stems from a man called David Levin, or should I say David ‘Twyfelfontein’, who farmed on the land in the late 1940s to the early 1960s.
continued . . . Although David was given an ultimatum by a visiting policeman to obtain a licence at the Land Board’s office in Windhoek or leave the property, with all the farm work, managing the animals, chopping wood, carrying water from the spring to the tents, skinning karakul lambs and curing pelts, he was unable to go. With Ella ill, the daunting task of setting up the farm fell solely on him. When he did eventually manage to get a lift to Windhoek, he tried to convince the officials that he would be able to make a living on the land. Finally, on the morning of the third day, they capitulated and agreed to give him a grass licence that he would have to pay for within six months.
The first few years were a struggle to draw sufficient water for both humans and animals to survive. David fitted a zinc crib at the end of the water furrow to replace the clay hollows he had initially dug, allowing fourteen animals to drink at one time, but it had to be watched throughout the day. The children took turns watching the water level, letting him know when the next group of animals could drink. When the valley became too dry to graze the animals David had to move most of his flock. He continued to spend time at the spring, trying to increase the flow. When neighbours visited, Ella would tell them that David was at the spring and they would go and find him there. It happened that every time neighbouring farmer Andries Blaauw visited, he would find David on his knees digging. When he asked David how he was, he would receive the same reply: “Good, but I doubt the spring will make it until the first rains in October.” Eventually Andries started to refer to him as ‘David Twyfelfontein’ (David Doubtful Spring). The name stuck and when the time came for David to register a name for the farm, Twyfelfontein seemed the most obvious.
Until 1951, when David installed a pipeline, two buckets of water had to be carried over a distance of a hundred metres from the spring to the homestead, and later from the well dug beyond the spring to the house. With the installation of the pipeline, the family could begin to plant a small garden. Every drop of water was precious and household water was reused for the garden.
With all David’s doubting, the spring never gave less water, it always gave a bit more. Other challenges were also solved in due course. When they arrived in the late 1940s, in the wake of World War Two, some goods were in short supply and it was difficult to obtain commodities like flour, sugar, salt, coffee and medicine. Neighbours who travelled to town (usually Sorris Sorris, 105 km away) every three to four months would offer to collect supplies for them if they had extra space. A shortage of money also made it difficult to purchase the staples. Goats were kept for meat and milk, although there was rarely enough for butter or cheese, and chickens produced a few eggs. The family survived from the veld and the karakul lambs that had been skinned for their pelts. Animal bones and skins were often exchanged at the store for groceries and household necessities. Ella continued to have health issues and had to be hospitalised in 1949 and again in 1953.
After David bought an old Chevrolet truck and struck water at a place they called ‘The Point’, he could begin to farm commercially and allow his flock to grow. Even then, he positioned himself at the tap connecting the reservoir to the crib and regulated the water supply himself. He would check the sheep as they drank and knew each one individually.
In 1952 the farms in the Kaokoveld, up to Huab River were surveyed and on 1 June 1956, almost ten years after the arrival of the family on the land, David Levin became the official title-holder of the farm Twyfelfontein. He received permission to purchase additional land in 1960.
Over the years David tried to improve the accommodation for his family. The tents were replaced by a reed structure and in early 1948, a kitchen was built from clay bricks. By the time David and Ella’s twins were born four years later, a few more rooms had been added.
In 1960 David applied for a loan and built an earth dam to capture rainwater, alleviating some more of their water challenges. They couldn’t be assured of rain, however, and in the 1950s had to contend with a series of droughts forcing them to trek to farms where grazing was available, spending many days on the road. In 1962 they went on their last trek together. Ella finally succumbed to her illness and in January 1963 David returned to Twyfelfontein alone. In the years from 1953 to 1963, he and Ella had travelled more than 1200 kilometres at the slow pace of the animals, trekking to and from Twyfelfontein.
The early 1960s would also be the last that David and his children would spend at Twyfelfontein. The farmers in the area were required to sell and vacate their land under South Africa’s Odendaal Plan to create a homeland for the Damara people. David sold his animals at the end of 1964 and left Twyfelfontein at the beginning of 1965.
He later remarried and lived in Outjo, working as an assistant to a general merchant and managing some of the farms in the vicinity, and then working in a hardware store. The family moved to Piketberg in the Western Cape in 1975, far from the place and the country that held his sweat, tears and dreams. David passed on in 1983 while sitting at the dining-room table. He was 72 years old.
In 2003, the five Levin children - and some of their children - met for a reunion at Twyfelfontein, the place that had played such a large part in their’ and their parents’ lives. The small spring and ruins of the Levin house can still be seen on visits to the engravings. The name Twyfelfontein lives on.
(Reference: David Levin of Twyfelfontein – The unknown story, Michiel Levin & Mannfred Goldbeck)