Namibia - Land of Legends

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale the appearance of truth or reality. From this definition Namibia can truly be called the "Land of the Legends". Below, we would like to share some of our favourite legends about the land that we like to call home!

It is not known how long the Namib Desert Feral Horses have lived on an area covering approximately 350 square kilometers in the Namib Desert, but locals speculate they have been there since 'German times'. As there are no written records about their provenance their origins remain unclear, but there are, of course, quite a few theories.

One relates to the German occupation of South West Africa a large number of horses were needed for the cavalry and an eccentric German nobleman, Baron Hans-Heinrich von Wolf, set up a horse breeding station at his outlandish castle, Duwisib, on the edge of the desert. The Baron went off to the First World War in Europe leaving his young bride behind. After hearing of his death it is said that she could no longer face living in Namibia without her true love and so released the horses before setting off back home to America.

It is likely, too, that some of the feral horses originated from the Schutztruppe mounts, as well as from those belonging to a South African Expeditionary Force that took control of the Luderitz - Keetmanshoop line during the First World War. And a third theory is that a ship carrying thoroughbreds from Europe to Australia that ran aground near the mouth of the Orange River. The strongest horses could have reached the shore and found their way to the Garub plains.

Fish River Canyon - it is one of the largest canyons in the world as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 meters deep. It has been gouged out of the surface of the land in the course of 650 million years by the forces of water, wind, gravity and earth movements.

But according to the San people who once roamed the area there is a different explanation to the formation of the Fish River Canyon. A San legend attributed the canyon to the serpent, Kouteign Kooru, who fled into the desert to escape hunters pursuing him and carved deep scars into the earth.

Etosha National Park in Namibia was first established in 1907, when Namibia was a German colony known as South West Africa. At the time, the park's original 100,000 km made it the largest game reserve in the world. Due to political changes since its original establishment, the park is somewhat less than a quarter of its original size, but still remains a very large and significant area in which wildlife is protected.

A San legend, depicting the formation of the Etosha Pan tells of how a village was raised and everyone but the women slaughtered. One woman was so distraught about the death of her family she cried until her tears formed a massive lake. When the lake dried up nothing was left apart from a huge white pan, known today as the Etosha Pan.

Our personal favourite legend is of the story surrounding the "bottomless" Otjikoto Lake. During the First World War the Union of South Africa, still part of the British Empire, was ordered to invade German South West Africa. The German troops were heavily out-numbered by the Union forces, but managed to hold out for nearly a year before finally being forced to surrender.

The final hostilities took place in the vicinity of Otjikoto and, rather than surrender their weapons and artillery to the enemy everything, including the heavy guns and ammunition wagons, was dumped into the lake. Many of these relics have since been recovered, but not all. The lake still contains various pieces of artillery and there are rumours that the German troops also disposed of their war chest in the same manner.

Stories are told of a large safe, the edges and keyhole sealed with molten lead and containing 6 million goldmarks, being lowered into Lake Otjikoto. The safe has never been seen again. The misconception of the lake being bottomless was given durability because the body of a former postmaster of Tsumeb, Johannes Cook, who drowned in Otjikoto in 1927, was never found.

The saying goes: "where there's smoke, there's fire". Why not decide for yourself when you travel to these and many more sites that make up Namibia - the land of the legends?