🇬🇧 The History of Düsternbrook Safari Guest Farm
The history of today’s Düsternbrook Safari Guest Farm dates back to the middle of the 19th century. Early travellers and explorers such as Thomas Baines and James Chapman referred to the area as Otjihorongo, meaning “Place of the Kudu.”
Otjihorongo was situated along the historic Bay Road, one of the most important ox-wagon routes of its time. Supplies from the harbour town of Walvis Bay were transported along this route to the central regions of the country. Following an outbreak of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (lung sickness), one of the region’s earliest veterinary quarantine stations was established at a spring near Otjihorongo, known as Dabi Poort.
The station operated under the authority of Jonker Afrikaner, one of the most influential Oorlam-Nama leaders of the period. Oxen arriving from infected areas were not permitted to continue their journey and had to be exchanged for healthy animals in order to prevent the further spread of the disease.
In 1908, Lieutenant Commander Matthiesen purchased the farm and named it Düsternbrook after a district in his hometown of Kiel, Germany. The farm has carried this name ever since.
In 1942, Düsternbrook became the property of the Vaatz family. Following the difficult war years, the farmhouse was renovated and enlarged in 1949, giving it much of its present appearance. During the following decades, Düsternbrook developed into a traditional cattle and dairy farm.
A major turning point came in 1961. During a draught and an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease and the resulting restrictions on livestock trading, Marga Vaatz established Namibia’s first guest farm and hunting farm.
A Remarkable Vision from 1962
In March 1962, Marga Vaatz published a letter in Namibia’s Allgemeine Zeitung entitled “What Is a Kudu Worth?” At a time when wildlife was still widely regarded as a competitor to livestock, the article argued that wildlife also possessed economic value and therefore deserved protection.
Looking back, the article anticipated many of the principles that later shaped wildlife conservation and sustainable use in southern Africa.
This pioneering step created an alternative source of income based not only on agriculture but also on tourism and the sustainable utilisation of wildlife.
About 1972 after approximately twelve years, only the guest farm operation was discontinued. For the following decades, Düsternbrook focused primarily on cattle farming and sustainable trophy hunting.
More than two decades later, these ideas helped influence Düsternbrook’s gradual transition from a traditional cattle farm into a wildlife reserve and safari guest farm.
In 1982, Johann Vaatz returned to Namibia after twelve years of professional engineering work in Germany. Four years later, in 1986, he took over the management of the farm. The reopening of the guest farm in 1993 marked the beginning of a new chapter in Düsternbrook’s history.
🇬🇧 What Is a Kudu Worth?
The following article was written by Marga Vaatz and first published in Namibia’s Allgemeine Zeitung on 6 March 1962. At a time when wildlife was still widely regarded as a competitor to livestock, the article raised a simple but important question: What is a kudu actually worth?
Looking back, many of the ideas discussed in this article anticipated principles that later became central to wildlife conservation and sustainable wildlife utilisation in Namibia and across southern Africa.
The article is reproduced here, in translation of the original german text, as a historical document and reflects the economic and social realities of its time.
