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graveyard of the warriers at the waterberg-plateau |
Near to the administration of the park is a graveyard of warriors. After the big battle at the Waterberg, which ended the revolt of the Herero in 1904, fallen German soldiers were buried there. All together about 800 Germans should have been wounded or been killed.
The number of the killed Herero isn’t clear. On the one hand the missionaries had always declared the number of natives too high to get more money and averages for their work. On the other hand after the battle there were wrong counts and exaggerations; so declarations falter between 30 and 100 thousand. In the meantime you can say that it has been less than 30.000 - though it still meant a devastating defeat for the nation.
The reasons for a revolt aren’t known exactly, too. Because the governor of the German Schutztruppe, Major Theodor Leutwein, focused on the treaties for protection and friendship and tried to reach respect and authority for the German colonial power at all tribes. You can find his attitude in his statement:” Not with blood and iron… colonial politic should be run but with comprehension for the grown character of the discovered population. So the treaties with the Herero protected them against assaults of the Nama and Germans and Herero fought together against the Hottentotts in the years 1894 and 1897.
However bogus bargainers nobbled the Herero and forced them into debts, neediness and poverty and so into dependence. Also there were unatoned homicides of whites on Herero and there were rumours about unexplained cases of death in prisons. A cattle-plague in 1897 not only killed the half of the cows of the Herero, but also their abundance and their pride. Another shock for the Herero was the liberation of their own slaves, the Damara. As the time seemed to be well religious leaders rumoured that Leutwein died at a battle against a tribe of the Hottentotts. Today a little memorial tablet reminds of the many fallen Herero.
On the way back to the bus Sydney shows us the traces of some baboons in the sand. Later, on the run to Windhoek we actually see some. But it’s not quite easy to photograph them, because at the latest when the bus is standing they lunge to be disappeared within seconds. Anyhow we finally see monkeys in Africa.
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