Southern Namibia

Rehoboth, south of Windhoek, is the centre of the Baster community (from “Bastard”, mixed-blood, descended from Cape Coloureds and Nama, speaking Afrikaans). The majority of people in southern Namibia speak the Nama language, Khoekhoegowab, although many also speak Afrikaans. It is mainly rural, with some spectacular scenery, like the Fish River Canyon, Africa’s largest canyon.

The mission church in Rehoboth, the core territory of the Baster community which still lives according to their Paternal Laws that were enacted in 1872.

View of the “Location” in Rehoboth, 90 kilometres south of Windhoek.

Nama boys in Rehoboth, formerly the capital of the Basterland bantustan.

Crowd at the church in Rietoog, a settlement of the Baster people, 112 kilometres southwest of Rehoboth; they moved to the area in the 1890s.

Baster women selling food at the church in Rietoog.

A group of Baster people in Rietoog, 112 kilometres southwest of Rehoboth and 130 kilometres north of Maltahöhe.

View of Maltahöhe, about 110 kilometres west of Mariental.

The “Location” (during apartheid where coloured people had to live, in Mariental (Tsaraxeibes), between Keetmanshoop and Windhoek, an area which has long been a centre for the Nama people.

Houses in the “Location” in Mariental (Tsaraxeibes), now the administrative capital of the Hardap Region in an area which has long been a centre for the Nama people.

Nama girls in Mariental (Tsaraxeibes in Khoekhoegowab, the language of the Nama people).

Marie Brandt Street in Mariental (Tsaraxeibes).

Vater Sonntag and Nama boys, singing for the tape recorder, in the mission in Mariental Location (Tsaraxeibes).

Vater Sonntag and the Nama boys, singing for the tape recorder, in the mission in Mariental Location (Tsaraxeibes).

Children at a shop in Gochas (!Goxas), 110 kilometres southeast of Mariental. The village has been the main settlement of the ǃKharakhoen (Fransman Nama), a subtribe of the Nama people, since 1889.

Two boys at the petrol pump in Gochas, a village in the Hardap region.

”Coloured“ and Nama boys in the village of Gochas.

A Nama woman in Gochas (!Goxas), 110 kilometres southeast of Mariental.

Nama boys in Gochas, the main settlement of the ǃKharakhoen (Fransman Nama), a subtribe of the Nama people, since 1889.

A family in front of their house in Auob,

A farm at Duikerloop, between Eindpaal and Gochas in east Namibia.

Sheep on the road, between Maltahöhe and Gibeon.

View to the bridge over the Fish River, just west of Gibeon.

The Roman Catholic Church in Gibeon (Khaxa-tsûs in Khoekhoegowab, the language of the Nama people).

A Nama couple on a donkey cart in the ”location“ of Gibeon.

Nama children posing in Gibeon location, 100 kilometres east of Maltahöhe.

Nama children in the ”location“ of Gibeon, 100 kilometres east of Maltahöhe.

Nama boys playing football, with the ”location“ of Gibeon in the background.

Children dancing in the mission building of Gibeon Roman Catholic Church.

Children at a party in the mission building of the Roman Catholic Church of Gibeon (Khaxa-tsûs).

Nama boys at the mission school in Ou Stampriet, 73 kilometres northwest of Gochas.

Nama boys at the mission school in Ou Stampriet.

The Mukurob, or Mukorob, (Finger of God) near Asab, 67 kilometres southeast of Gibeon.

Two “Kokerboom“, Aloidendron dichotomum, formerly Aloe dichotoma, the quiver tree, a tall, branching species of succulent plant, near Keetmanshoop, in the south of Namibia.

Fish River Canyon, Africa's largest canyon, from the View Point.

Fish River Canyon, Africa's largest canyon. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 160 kilometres long, up to 27 kilometres wide and in places almost 550 metres deep.

Fish River Canyon, a gigantic ravine, Africa's largest.

Sheep in Klein Karas, to the northeast of Fish River Canyon, in the south of Namibia.

Along the road between Grunau and Vioolsdrif, in Namibia's south.

View to the Orange River at Vioolsdrif, in Namaqualand, South Africa, on the border with Namibia.