A last refuge at the Gamsberg

A network of historical paths had to intersect before award-winning Afrikaans author and poet Piet van Rooyen and his wife, Annalie, put down roots at the Gamsberg in Namibia five years ago.

- PETER VAN NOORD

On Gamsberg 23 farm, situated approximately 120 km southwest of Windhoek and directly west of Rehoboth, lives a man who has a deeper understanding of the history of the piece of land where he resides than anyone else: Piet van Rooyen, the author of several books including Die spoorsnyer, Die olifantjagters and Agter 'n eland aan [The Tracker, The Elephant Hunters and Chasing an Eland].

After Piet moved to Namibia in 1989 to farm with cattle, ostriches and Arabian horses on a rented farm outside Gobabis, he began working at the Nyae-Nyae Development Foundation near Tsumkwe. Here, he hunted, lived and tracked with the San, and taught them about cattle farming.

This was also where he met San leader and tracker Paul Chapman.

It was Piet's conversations with Chapman that shaped his novels Die spoorsnyer and Die olifantjagters - the latter was awarded the M-Net Prize in 1998. The autobiographical novel Agter 'n eland aan documents his personal experiences with the San.

This connection with the San communities influenced Piet's writing and his sense of humanity. In essays such as "Bemoeienis met die ander - Boerskrywer en Boesman" (1999) ["Interference with the Other - Boer Author and Bushman"], and in his novel Etosha (2010), he explores themes such as identity, landscape, conservation and history - inspired by his personal experiences and interactions with the indigenous communities of Namibia, as well as the landscape - the silence of the veld, the rhythm of the seasons and the textures of the land.

"HUNTER-GATHERERS from an ancient time made themselves at home here at the waterhole at the foot of the Gamsberg and painted their drawings on the rock walls," says Piet. "They left behind a history that no one can explain today."