Family, friends and large numbers of Ovahimba, including Chief Hikuminue Kapika of the Kapika Royal House, gathered for the funeral of Koos Cunene Verwey at Epupa on Thursday, 30 November 2023 to say farewell to a man who left an indelible legacy on Kaokoland and its people.
Beverley Uendjisuvera Tjirare, a former employee, travelled from Windhoek to Epupa to attend the funeral, while Anna Santos, who had known Koos from the time he started Camp Synchro, travelled from the Marienfluss. Other mourners came from Opuwo and further afield.
As the casket made its way through Opuwo on the day before the funeral, a large number of people lined both sides of the main road into the town, saying “We will miss you Koos Verwey. Why did you leave us?”
In accordance with his last wish, Koos was buried in the Ovahimba tradition at the foot of a hill at Ovizorombuku near Epupa. Women spontaneously composed songs of praise for him. Young women danced to the rhythmic clapping of hands to say goodbye, while the older women pointed to the surrounding mountains saying they all belong to Koos Verwey.
Speaker after speaker praised Oom Koos, as he was affectionately known, for his compassion and his selfless service to the Epupa community and beyond. They described him as an icon, a legend, a pillar of the community and the ‘Father of the Epupa community’.
Koos was always ready when help was needed – irrespective of the time of day or the need. When the boreholes and springs in the Epupa area ran dry he came to the assistance of the community. He assisted the needy with food during droughts and provided transport for children to sports events at Okangwati and even as far away as Opuwo.
Heide Beinhauer who did marketing and bookings for Koos from 1990 to 2000 and knew him very well said, “Koos was driven to try – against the odds and often enough stubbornly enough.”
He was undeterred by his detractors when he took a stand. In a speech on ‘The Effects of Uncontrolled Tourism in Kaokoveld’ delivered at the Wildlife Society in Windhoek on 16 November 1994, Koos bluntly stated, “Most people got to know me as a person with not too much diplomacy – especially if it comes to the protection of this area.” He went on to caution that, “The last wilderness” might soon become “the destroyed wilderness” due to the greed for money (the quick buck) and the lack of responsible decisions.”
He campaigned vigorously against the building of the Epupa hydro-electric scheme in the 1990s and took issue with an environmental magazine that published an advertisement of a well-known vehicle manufacturer that depicted Ovahimba women in an offensive way in 1995. In a letter to the editor he wrote, “It shows a lack of awareness for people and nature, a lack of awareness for the plight of a once and independent tribe that finds itself in the midst of a veritable identity crisis.”
Koos put down his roots in Kaokoland when he resigned from the South African Defence Force in 1989 and built Camp Synchro on the banks of the Kunene River at the northern end of the Marienfluss Valley. He also established Kaokohimba Safaris and conducted mobile safaris and guided walking trails in Kaokoland and Damaraland for several years.
During his stay at Camp Synchro he was the driving force behind the development of a primary school for the Ovahimba children living in the area. It was also here where he was introduced and ‘adopted’ a young Angolan girl – Juanine (Vatjatisapo) Tjambiru, whose three children Pikkewyn, Tjiko and Mabettie lovingly referred to Koos as Oupa (Grandfather).
Following a fire at Camp Synchro in 2010, Koos began developing the Epupa campsite to provide proper facilities in the area. The campsites and accommodation facilities has become a popular stop with self-drive tourists.
His remarkable journey from growing up in a conservative Afrikaans home on a Kalahari farm in the Gochas area and serving as an officer in the special forces of the South African Defence Force to putting down his roots in Kaokoland is told in the 52 minute documentary film, A Fortunate Soldier, made in 2009.
Koos sustained serious injuries when he fell from his deck at the Epupa Falls Lodge on 6 October 2023. He was transferred to a hospital in Windhoek and passed away on 27 October. It was his wish to be buried in Epupa among the Ovahimba.
His voice has gone quiet and his footsteps will no longer be heard. But his legend will continue to live on. In the words of Jenny Santos, a daughter of Anna Santos, “He was everything to everybody.” He was truly larger than life!
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