In an area forged by wind and silence, a herd of horses runs freely along the gravel plains near Garb. These are wild horses in the Namib Desert, wild, tenacious and uniquely adapted. They are not survivors of nature, they are survivors of history itself.
More than a century ago, the Namib Desert was directed towards the battlefield. During World War I, German colonial forces robbed AUS after they were in Southwest Africa at the time. Garob means the raw “leopard” now known for its wind-blowing waters, and was once the site of the strategic military office. In 1915, air bombings by German aircraft reportedly littered an estimated 1,700 horses in the desert as South African Union forces were stationed in Garb. Most of these horses eventually returned, but some remained over time.
At the height of war effort, Garub was an important supply post. On December 16, 1914, the advance forces clashed with German climbers, and by February 1915, the Union troops discovered that the railway station had torched, destroying aquariums and boreholes. They quickly began repairs and established a base that attracted 10,000 soldiers and 6,000 military horses. General Bosa visited the camp to boost morale as the army prepared for further advancement. It is here in dust and military tensions that the narrative of the origins of Namibian wild horses began to take shape.
These horses were left to dodge themselves for many years and adapted in an extraordinary way. They have developed into desert cured creatures that can be washed away with the softness of domestication, and can go for days without water, endure temperatures that sway from burning heat to freezing cold, and are present in sparse vegetation. Over generations, Stud Farm’s cavalry, transport animals and stallion pedigrees merged into a single, uniquely adapted herd.
The origins of the wild horses in Namibia date back to Kububu, a farm where Emil Kleplin raised his work and racehorses before World War I. These horses provided powerful and adaptive stocks mixed with cavalry and transport horses during the war, forming the heart of the herd of glass flocks.
Long after the war, Garb remained an important watering hole on the Ludelitz to the Keatmanshoepe Railway Line until the 1960s, when diesel locomotives replaced steam. But Borehole continued to provide water not only to the maintenance team but also to the growing population of wild horses. Eventually, when conservation took root, the section of Superbiet was integrated into Namib Naukluf Park, leading to the establishment of Tsau// Khaeb (Spergebiet) National Park in 2004. Garb has become a place of both memory and storage.
But their freedom is under constant threat. Various sources show that the number of these wild horses had fallen by about 50 in the early 70s. By the late 2000s, the population had grown to around 280 and had stabilized. However, in 2013, drought and spotted hyenas began to prey on herds, reducing their population to below 70.
At the time of the latest estimate, there are fewer than 100 horses remaining. However, another source close to the ground, Telane Greyling, pegs (approximately 16 foals have been reported).
Greilling is not a bystander. A zoologist whose doctoral research has become an extensive scientific study of these horses, she has been monitoring herds for nearly 30 years. On my visit to Klein Oz, she accompanied me to a leather along the B4 road, specially built so that visitors would pay homage to the horses of the natural environment.
The skin and water of this viewing is part of Garub’s modern heritage, where you can see wild horses cant to the waterpoint, and sometimes you can catch shady patches by the ruins of old train stations. Over the years, visitors, young and old, stopped here, taking photos of the horses against the backdrop of period-grown stones and desert sun.
When we saw them through binoculars, Grailing spoke of each horse as if he were remembering an old friend.
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She didn’t name them to tame them, she told me, but to respect their personality and create a bond that transcends biology. After all, a name does more than identify. They invite memories. Like the title engraved on the spine of a book, the name gives the wild horse a place in our hearts and a chapter of our shared story.
Founded in 2012, the Namibia Wildhorse Foundation played a pivotal role in this continuous preservation. As a nonprofit organization, the foundation will embark on long-term research and help maintain water infrastructure and nutritional interventions that are essential for horse survival during drought.
Though not formally recognized as a wildlife under Namibian Conservation Ordinance, horses have achieved a kind of cultural and symbolic status through years of public advocacy. Their informal perception as a national treasure helps protect them from the threat of culumour and removal despite the continuing debate over their future.
