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Keetmanshoop

Saturday, 28 April 2007

Introduction & planning tips

Keetmanshoop is known as the capital of the south. As the distances in the south are long, and need to be broken, it is a key stop on any itinerary that includes Lüderitz and the Fish River Canyon. The town itself has a few monuments, but the vicinity of the town holds a lot of interest. Some of the attractions that are worth stopping for are the well-known Quiver Tree Forests, the Giant's Playground and the lesser-known Mesosaurus fossils. Keetmanshoop is also a good point of access for Brukkaros, however this may require a full day on the itinerary as the walk itself takes 3 to 4 hours depending on the fitness of the walker.

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Planning information

Keetmanshoop Monuments

To do: Keetmanshoop vicinity

Many travellers enjoy visiting the quiver trees due to the strange appearance of the tree, and excellent photographic opportunities. More on the quiver tree, here>>

The quiver tree is regarded as an excellent example of how plants can adapt to the very arid Kalahari. It is also a particularly important part of the food chain and traditional cultures.

There are three prominent forests. The choice depends on timing and the itinerary.
* Follow the C17 to farm Gariganas, approximately 20 km north-east of Keetmanshoop. The quiver tree forest is opposite the Giant’s Playground site.
OR
* Follow the C17 to the Mesosaurus fossil site approximately 42 km north-east of Keetmanshoop, where a quiver tree forest can also be seen.
OR
* Follow the B1 to farm Garas, approximately 20 km north of Keetmanshoop.

Mesosauruses were crocodile like reptiles that lived approximately 260 million years ago. Their fossils are clearly preserved in rock. Find more on the mesosaurus, here>>

* Follow the C17 to the Mesosaurus fossil site approximately 42 km north-east of Keetmanshoop, where a quiver tree forest can also be seen.

The Giant’s Playground is a rock formation that is popular for its strange appearance and its photographic appeal.

The Giant’s Playground takes its name from the fact that it appears as if a giant placed stone bricks on top of one another, like a child playing with wooden blocks. However, the place was actually formed hundreds of millions of years ago. The dolerite feature was formed approximately 180 million years ago, and formed by water erosion and win weathering.

* Follow the C17 to farm Gariganas, approximately 20 km north-east of Keetmanshoop.

Often mistakenly described as a volcano, Brukkaros was actually formed when superheated steam blew the cap off a bulge in the earth caused by volcanic pressure when molten rock below the surface of the earth could not be released. Travellers can hike into the crater, accompanied by community guides.

Note that the walk takes 3 - 4 hours, and an offroad vehicle is recommended.

* Follow the B1 north to Tses (approx. 78 km)
* Turn onto the M98 to Berseba and drive to the D3904 (approx. 37 km)
* Follow the D3904 to Brukkaros (approx. 9 km)

Travel details

Marketing descriptions

Background for clients & guides

Keetmanshoop is either very hot or very cold. In summer the temperature rises to well on excess of 35 C during the day, but may fall as low as 15 C at night. In winter the temperature may fall to 5 C or lower.

Keetmanshoop was originally named //Nu-/goaes, ‘the black marsh’, by local Namas. In 1785, the first settler of European descent, Guilliam Visagie, arrived. He translated the Nama name and named the place Zwartmodderfontein, ‘the black mud fountain’, or Zwartmorast, ‘the black swamp or morass’. The name was shortened to Modderfontein, ‘the mud fountain’.

Johann Keetman was an influential member of the Rhenish Mission Society and served as its president in the 1800s. Before his death in 1865, he donated 1,000 Thalers to establish a mission station at Zwartmodderfontein. The town was renamed Keetmanshoop, ‘Keetman’s Hope’, in recognition of the donation.

Before the arrival of missionaries and traders in the early 1800s, Keetmanshoop was known to the Nama people for the presence of a spring. In the arid south, a spring was a definite attraction. Hunters, traders and missionaries who crossed the Orange River also visited the place for this reason.

The first settler of European descent, Guilliam Visagie, arrived in 1785. In the early 1800s, a settlement developed around the spring. In 1866, the Nama !Kharo-Oan led by Kaptein Hendrik Tsieb settled in the area. Shortly after this, the Rehnish missionary, Carl Hugo Hahn arrived and founded a Rhenish church and mission station.

In 1884, Adolf Lüderitz had what was then known as Angra Pequena declared a German protectorate, and Germany began its expansion into Namibia. In 1894, they erected a fort at Keetmanshoop. In addition, a number of farmers settled around the town and purchased farms. This probably explains why the town remained safe while the Nama Uprising raged around it.

On the 29 May, 1905 at Vaalgras, also known as Koichas, near Keetmanshoop, 75 year old guerrilla leader Hendrik Witbooi, was wounded while fighting on horseback and died.

In 1908, the railway line from Lüderitz was connected to Keetmanshoop. In 1909, the first mayor took office. In 1914, World War 1 broke out. On 19 April, in the face of the impending arrival of Union troops, the Germans closed the post office and began their retreat. A brief fight took place at Kabus, north of Keetmanshoop.

In recent years, Keetmanshoop has served as a centre for the farming industry of the south.

The Giant’s Playground takes its name from the fact that it appears as if a giant placed stone bricks on top of one another, like a child playing with wooden blocks. However, the place was actually formed hundreds of millions of years ago.

About 250 million years ago, all the continents were part of one huge, super-continent called Pangea, which was roughly C-shaped. Africa and South America were roughly at the centre of the C-shape. About 180 million years ago Pangea split into two halves: Laurasia at the top (north) and Gondwana at the bottom (south). The split caused enormous upheavals and stresses in the land mass. In the area around Keetmanshoop, cracks formed below the surface of the land and molten rock pushed its way into the spaces.

As the molten rock cooled, it formed a type of rock called basalt. Basalt is normally found at deep at the base of continents in the continental plates. Basalt sometimes comes to the surface. When it has coarse grains within the rocks it is known as dolerite. This is the type of rock that can be seen at the Giant’s Playground.

At first the basalt lay below the surface, but over tens of millions of years, water and wind eroded the surface of the earth, exposing the coarse-grained basalt known as dolerite.

Softer parts between the dolerite were eroded away by water flowing through dykes of dolerite, creating the appearance of rocks stacked above one another. Changes in temperature caused the rocks to crack adding to the appearance, and sand, blown by the wind, polished and rounded the surfaces.

In arid environments such as the Kalahari and Namib in southern Namibia, trees and plants are vital for animals and humans.

In 1685, Simon van der Stel, the Governor of the Cape Colony in what was to become South Africa, ventured northwards in search of precious copper. In the far reaches of what is now known as Namaqualand, he discovered a strange tree with a barrel-like trunk, many forked branches growing from the wide top of the trunk and covered in blue-green leaves only at the top of the branches.

Simon van der Stel’s journal reported his find, and the sight of the tree was brought to the wider world in a drawing made in 1866 by the European explorer Thomas Baines, but human and animal inhabitants of the arid Kalahari and Namib Deserts had long known this amazing plant and recognised it as one of the most useful plants available to them.

The quiver tree, Aloe dichotoma, also known as the ‘Kokerboom’, takes its name from the fact that Khoisan bushmen use its branches and bark to make quivers to hold their arrows. Either the branches which have a soft centre are hollowed out, or a sleeve is made from the tough bark. A plug of leather is made to cover the bottom to hold the arrows in, and a sling is manufactured to help the hunter carry the quiver.

But the quiver tree has more uses than this. For instance, dead trees have been hollowed out and used as natural refrigerators to preserve meat and vegetables and keep water cool while the group is hunting. The food is placed in the trunk and the passage of wind through the hollow area keeps the food cool.

It has also been reported that large quiver trees have been hollowed out and used for shelters. In times gone by, people also cut the trunks into squares and used the squares to build walls. Water was placed in a tank above the walls, and as this water dripped into the squares and the breeze blew over the panels, the home was cooled.

As the quiver tree stores water to protect itself against drought, the pulp can be chewed as a source of water if there is no water to be had immediately. The young flower buds, which are said to have a similar taste to asparagus, can be eaten by humans and animals alike.

When the quiver tree flowers, large numbers of birds and locusts are drawn to the tree. Baboons will also strip the tree of its flowers in search of the sweet nectar. Weaver birds build their huge nests in its branches, and the height of the tree serves as a barrier to predators such as snakes and jackals that prey on their eggs and young weaver birds.

The quiver tree is made more important by the fact that it rarely grows in groups. Although there are two well-known quiver tree forests, quiver trees normally grow on their own. They are often found growing on the slopes of or near inselbergs, small rocky hills that resemble islands in the gravel plains of the desert. The inselbergs provide shade, and trap water and dew in their crevices which the young quiver tree can use to grow. Sometimes it is also found growing on the edge of canyons, where breezes and updrafts help to keep it cool.

If not growing near an inselberg or on the rim of a canyon, the quiver tree has a harder time establishing roots and growing. The scarcity of the quiver tree makes it a very precious resource for animals and people in the area surrounding it. In fact, it becomes one of the central points of life and the food chain in the harsh environment.

Male trees are recognisable by their bright yellow flowers, about 3 cm long, that grow close to the leaves in winter. Female trees have light red cones, dotted with green. Wind, and desert whirlwinds known as ‘dust devils’, are mainly responsible for pollination. It is believed that insects, attracted by the sweet nectar of the flower, are also responsible for pollination, but this has not yet been established as a fact.

The scientific term for ‘forked’, ‘dichotomous’, is the origin of the Aloe dichotoma’s scientific name. At a certain point, while young, the trunk of the quiver tree will divide into forks. As these forks grow, they will divide again, until the mature quiver tree has a tall, wide trunk and a forest of forked branches at the top covered in leaves.

The bark of the quiver tree is smooth and light coloured. The bark on the trunk is normally a golden-yellow colour. It grows in a way that resembles scales with very sharp edges. The branches are lighter and covered with a powdery white substance that reflects the hot sunlight away from the tree, and helps to keep it cool.

At the top of the branches grow the leaves and flowers or cones, depending on whether it is male or female. In the young plant, the leaves grow in vertical rows, but as the plant ages, they begin to grow in clumps at the top of the forked branches. The blue-green leaves grow to a length of up to 35 cm, and are found in clusters at the top of branches. The edges of the leaves are yellowish-brown, and have yellowish ‘teeth’, smaller, regular protrusions on the edge of the leaves.

Varying heights are reported for the quiver tree. The reported range is from 3,5 to 9 m, and it may grow to a width of as much as 6 m. They first flower between the ages of 20 and 30, and are believed to live for between 200 and 300 years. They best take root in dark soil, which is very fertile and allows a wide network of roots to thrive.

Quiver trees grow best in a hot dry environment. If they receive too much water, they begin to rot.

The tree has developed a number of methods of dealing with the high heat and lack of water in its environment. One of these methods is storing large amounts of water in its large trunk, and its thick, succulent leaves. A waxy covering on the leaves helps prevent water loss. Taking root in an inselberg is another strategy that increases the supply of water. The light colour of the trunk and branches, and the powdery substance on the surface of its upper branches, reflects heat away. Growing on the rim of canyons, where cool breezes blow upwards, also helps quiver trees to reduce the heat. Finally, the arrangement of leaves in a rosette form at the top of the branch allows the plant to fold its leaves if the amount of sunlight becomes too great.

But quiver trees are also exposed to very cold temperatures that may even be below freezing (0 C). The fact that they are sensitive to prolonged cold or too much water means that they are also useful for measuring climate change. By photographing quiver tree concentrations over prolonged periods, botanists can assess how many are dying and how many are taking root. This figure, compared to known figures for the time it takes a quiver tree to grow and reach maturity gives an idea of the variation in climate.

About 180 million years ago Pangea split into two halves: Laurasia at the top (north) and Gondwana at the bottom (south). Gondwana contained most of the land that is found in today’s southern hemisphere as well as Africa and India.

About 167 million years ago, Gondwana split into an eastern section which went on to form the land masses of Antarctica, Australia, Madagascar and Australia. The remainder of the land is what is now Africa, South America and East Antarctica.

About 130 million years ago, South America began to split off. Part of that landmass became South America, which joined with North America, East Antarctica. Africa was left behind.

After the break-up of Gondwana, the crusty was thinned and weakened by the pressures and stresses of the continental separation. Molten rock forced its way through the fissures in Africa’s surface.

However about 2,3 billion years ago, a very stable part of the earth’s surface, known as the Kalahari Craton was formed. Part of this craton was the hard rock of the Namaqua Complex. When the lava was forced up, it met the hard rock of the Namaqua complex, and the earth bulged, forming Brukkaros.

As the rock cracked, water seeped into the cracks creating superheated steam and very high pressure. The very high pressure blew off the top of the new mountain, creating a crater approximately 2 km across. So although Brukkaros looks like am extinct volcano, it never was a true volcano.

In the Permian period, extending from between 280 and 250 million years ago to about 800,000 to 400,000 years ago, the ancestors of the reptiles emerged. These creatures began to move from the water onto land. However, many of these creatures began to evolve back into forms that were suited to life in the water. One of these was the Mesosaurus.

About 167 million years ago, a huge lake lay at the centre of the super-continent Gondwana. The western part of this lake covered what is now Namibia. The eastern shore of this lake lay in what is now Brazil. Mesosauruses congregated around the shores of this lake and swam in it. This is known because Mesosaurus fossils have been found in both Brazil and Namibia. The fossils of Mesosauruses found in Southern Africa are known as Mesosaurus tenuidens. The Brazilian fossil is known as Mesosaurus brazilosaurus.

In fact, the presence of similar fossils has been used as a proof of the fact that the continents were once joined but drifted apart.

The mesosaurus was descended from an early reptilian genus, the anapsid, creatures whose skulls did not have openings near the temples. It grew to between one and two metres in length. Its feet were webbed, it had a long tail with a fin and a flexible body. Although it was unsuited to movement on land, it is believed that the creatures thrived in the water. Its teeth were too thin to catch prey, but it is believed that they could form a mesh for trapping plankton and other small marine life.

There were few rivers feeding sediments into the lakes but it is believed that huge sandstorms blew sand onto the surface of the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and creatures swimming in it died. Those that died in the lake would not have been consumed by predators. Instead they would have sunk to the bottom of the lake and been preserved in the deep mud.

The fossils of the Mesosauruses lie between thin layers of rock that were formed when the thin layers of mud dried and hardened after the lake dried up, when the continents split, giving credibility to this theory.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 16 December 2008 )

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