Angola Or Bust!

A desire to escape from British rule, drought and hostile tribes led to the trekboers’ epic journeys. The Dorsland Trek was one of the toughest, says Graham Jooste.

- Graham Jooste

The Great Trek, starting in 1835, was but the first of many epic ox wagon journeys undertaken by trekboers during the 19th century. Amongst the most gruelling of these later journeys was the Dorsland Trek, a series of journeys between 1875 and 1904 that saw some 340 families (2 000 people) in 500 wagons leaving the Groot Marico, Rustenburg and Pretoria areas for what is now Angola. With them went 12 000 cattle, as well as sheep, goats and chickens. The leaders were chosen for their standing in the community.

Rinderpest, droughts, marauding tribes and British imperialism were what drove the trekboers on. They saw Angola as a land where they would finally be left alone to run their lives as they saw fit. On their journeys, the families had to cross Bechuanaland (Botswana) and the vast, arid areas of the Kalahari. The harsh conditions gave the migration its collective name: ‘Dorsland’, meaning ‘Thirstland’.

THE ALBERTS PARTY

The first group, comprising 10 families, 50 ox wagons and 1 400 cattle, set out on 27 May 1874 under the leadership of Gert Alberts, and initially settled at Rietfontein on the border of Bechuanaland. Here, a stream enabled them to grow crops for food and fodder.

The success of the venture encouraged another, much larger party to join the original trekkers. This consisted of 500 souls with 128 wagons, 7 000 cattle, 1 000 sheep and 500 horses. But, whereas Alberts’s smaller and swifter group had managed to cross the Kalahari without undue loss, the larger and slower second group soon found itself in trouble in the merciless desert conditions.

Alberts had split his party into three groups, with a two-day interval between each, to avoid overcrowding the few waterholes along the route. The larger trek took no such precautions and most of their stock ended up dying of thirst.