by Manni Goldbeck
The winding pass over the Tsumeb Mountain once had people saying their prayers when travelling from the North.
It may be difficult to believe when driving on the good tar road today, but before it was built the pass over the mountain was a rough gravel road that became a slippery track after the rains, to be negotiated with care.
While driving this route with friends from the North, I heard some of the old stories. They told me how some passengers felt safer walking up the pass than driving it, and they would walk up and get into the car again at the top. They also explained that besides the condition of the road at that time, the landscape in the Owambo regions is noticeably flat. People joked that the highest buildings were the church and water tower. For anyone travelling southwards, the sudden gradient in the topography was cause for concern. For those who needed to travel to other areas for work, like the fishing industry in Walvis Bay, the mines or the commercial farms around the country, the pass was an inevitable hurdle along the way.
The legend about the Mountain of Tsumeb, ‘Okandundu ka shomeya’, grew like a rumour, gathering force as it was recounted and retold. The size of the mountain grew with each telling and was described as being a hundred times higher than the local church steeple. It was even discussed among school children, so that by the time anyone ventured south, they were already quivering in their boots as their anxiety mounted.
One of my friends, Hannu Shipena, told me on one of our journeys that his father was a priest in Ondangwa and that on every trip to the south they started to pray for safe passage over the mountain as soon as they left the town, and afterwards they gave thanks for having arrived safely on the other side.
Another friend, Jerry Elago, related the story of how his father refused to go over the pass at all and drove his Kombi (‘Okombi’) the long way round via Grootfontein to avoid it.
Although the stories are no longer in circulation and the road is no longer daunting, the drive over the mountain will always elicit a response from the older generation – and a story or two.
If you have a memory or story of the mountain, please share it with us. We would love to hear it.