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News
l August 2005 |
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Secret
surrounding Wild Horses unveiled
The Wild Horses roaming the Namib Desert near Garub,
west of Aus, are predominantly descended from South African
army stock. This was discovered by the Managing Director
of Nature Investments, Mannfred Goldbeck, and amateur
historian Walter Rusch. Their findings ended decades of
debate and speculation about the origins of the horses,
during which several theories had been brought forward.
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Goldbeck was researching for a book that
he plans to publish on horses in southern Africa when
he came upon a German military report about the advance
of South African forces against the Schutztruppe near
Aus during World War I. According to the report the pilot
of a German biplane dropped bombs onto the enemy camp
near Garub - and also among a herd of 1,700 grazing horses.
Since the South Africans were in hot pursuit of the retreating
Germans there was probably little opportunity to recapture
all of the dispersed animals. |
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Aerial view of a South African army
camp between Lüderitz and Aus in 1915 after the bombardment
by German pilot Paul Fiedler. |
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Rusch unearthed clues to a stud farm in
Kubub which had long since been forgotten. Kubub is situated
some 30 km south of Aus. Emil Kreplin, who was mayor of
Lüderitz from 1909 until 1914, bred workhorses as
well as racehorses on the farm. One of his photo albums
contains pictures of the stud farm and shows horses with
characteristic features which can still be found among
the Wild Horses today. This leads to the conclusion that
many stock animals were lost in the turmoil of the war
and joined South African army horses at the watering places
in the Aus Mountains and at Garub. |
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© 2007 Nature Investments (Pty) Ltd |
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- More pictures at www.namibhorses.com
- For a detailed media release see
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www.gondwana-desert-collection.com
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