South-West Africa

From what has been said about the diversity of the physical conditions of the country it will be readily inferred that there is a considerable variation of climate. When it is remembered, too, that the land lies within the tropic of Capricorn and corresponds in latitude to the central provinces of India, between Bombay and Calcutta, the reader will be prepared to learn that it is excessively hot in the summer months and very unhealthy. As a matter of fact the climate as a whole is healthy and the heat much less trying than the traveller from India expects to find in such a latitude. Various factors account for this, as we shall see.

There are two seasons, summer and winter; summer lasts from October to April, and winter from April to September.

The heat is sometimes great on the coast, some little distance from the sea, where the sea mists do not reach, rising occasionally to 120° F. in the shade. But at noon the fresh south-west wind blows strongly from the sea, and the nights are comparatively cool and refreshing. The sudden fall of temperature at sunset is often a source of danger to those who have not learned to guard themselves against rapid variations of temperature. Strangely enough, the hottest day in the year may be a day in the middle of winter, for it is in the winter that a fierce, hot, desert wind from the east comes sweeping across the country, sending up the thermometer with a rush. The winter may thus have the hottest, as well as the coldest, days of the year. A comparison of the temperatures of the principal centres of the country with Kenhardt and Kimberley, two of the hottest districts in the Cape Province, may not be without interest:

The feature of the coast climate is the heavy fogs occasioned by the proximity of the cold waters of the Benguella current to a heated interior, and the contact of the cool south-west winds with the north-west air currents. These fogs veil the seaboard in a thick haze during the night and often last to noon; they supply, however, a considerable amount of moisture to the coast border of the Namib, since they are sometimes so heavy that in a single night the sand is moistened to a depth of one or two inches, and the water flows down the stems of shrubs into the ground to a depth of six inches. Heavy rain occurs at very rare intervals. These conditions suggest that quite a useful supply of water might be obtained by the construction of dew-ponds, or mist-ponds, as they are now known to be, of which particulars are given by Mr. E. A. Martin in his recent work, entitled, “Dew-ponds: History, Observation and Experiment.” A whole year may pass without a single shower. Walvis Bay has an annual average rainfall of less than one inch. At such centres as Luderitzbucht, Swakopmund, and Walvis Bay, water for drinking purposes is condensed from the sea. Before the condensing plant was erected water had to be brought all the way up from Cape Town.

In the north and north-east the climate is almost tropical, but on the central plateau it is temperate, with great fluctuations of temperature during the day. The great heat of the sun during the summer months would make it rather trying for Europeans, were it not for the altitude and the great dryness of the air. As we have shown, the plateau is from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level, and this is a factor of considerable importance in determining climatic conditions. The climate resembles parts of Rhodesia, and while there are hot days in the summer, for the most part the air is fresh, clear, and like elixir.

Great Namaqualand has a very warm summer; the shade temperature of the Orange River valley is often 110° F., while on the plains great fluctuations in the day temperature prevail. In the winter severe frosts and snow may be experienced, and snow may be seen on the Karas Mountains. There are also occasional frosts in the Windhoek region in this cold season.

The Rainfall

South-West Africa is really a continuation of the Bechuanaland plateau, a notoriously dry territory, and the rainfall is even less than in Bechuanaland, if we except the northern territories, since very little of the vapour from the distant Indian Ocean can reach the country. The Eastern slope, which faces the Indian Ocean, receives a fair supply of moisture. The Windhoek region has an average annual rainfall of 15 inches. Whirlwinds often herald the approach of the rain. In the warmer north and north-east 24 inches is often registered in a year. Great Namaqualand is much drier, 6 or 7 inches being about the average. The rain comes almost invariably in the form of violent thunderstorms which sweep along in a limited area. It is a common experience to travel over a stretch of dry and barren land to enter suddenly a tract of vivid green where the vegetation is in full activity, so local is the distribution of the rain. Severe hailstorms are sometimes responsible for much damage, since the hailstones are often as big as marbles. Within half an hour of the passing of one of these storms, the thermometer has been seen to drop from 110° F. to 68° F. Droughts of great severity continue for years together in these regions, but as soon as the rain comes, the country revives as if by magic; grass and flowers spring up from the steaming ground with amazing rapidity, and the once bare and blistered plain is transformed into a vast carpet of vivid green and brilliant hues.

The Namib has a rainfall of less than an inch, but in places where the desert borders the inner plateau, three or four inches may be registered during the year.

One of the journals of the Royal Meteorological Society has printed the rainfall record of South-West Africa. Dr. Emil Ottweiler is responsible for it, and the observations extended over periods varying from one to twenty-three years. This record is of real value, and we give the average fall at some of the stations mentioned.

The rainfall, scanty as it is, generally descends in sharp storms and showers, and as the ground is often baked hard by the heats of the sun, it quickly runs away to the watercourses, but in recent years dams have been made in order to store the precious liquid, and a well-filled dam may hold sufficient water to supply a large farm for the space of a year or two.

Health Conditions

The physical conditions already described determine the healthfulness of the country; the sun, the elevation, the dryness, being responsible for the good climate of the interior. The direct rays of the sun are very strong during the day, for clouds are infrequent; many weeks may pass without the smallest cloud being visible; but these rays are not dangerous, and sunstroke is unusual. In India, as Bryce has shown, one has always to be mounting guard against the sun. “He is a formidable and ever-present enemy, and he is the more dangerous the longer you live in the country. In South Africa it is only because he dries up the soil so terribly that the traveller wishes to have less of him.”[4]

The extreme dryness of the air on the plateaux enables Europeans to endure heat that would be unbearable in London or New York. A shade temperature of 108 °F. in either of these cities would be responsible for many a collapse, but it would pass at Windhoek without anyone being the worse for it. Even on the Namib some compensation would be afforded by the sea breezes.

There are people who have lived at Luderitzbucht, one of the driest parts of the Namib, continuously for eight or ten years, and they are exceedingly active and healthy, while at Windhoek strong and sturdy children are developing a splendid physique in the pure, bracing air of the plateau. Malarial fever, which hangs like a death cloud over many parts of Africa, is sometimes found in the north and north-west of the country, but it prevails in a mild form. Last year, for instance, there were only six deaths from this cause among Europeans, right through the country. The dreaded black-water fever is occasionally met with in the tropical north. The diseases common along the coast are mostly intestinal, due almost entirely to the lack of a good supply of pure water. Rheumatic troubles are also fairly common on the seaboard. The death-rate for 1913 was only 11·3 per thousand of the white population, and 21·75 per thousand among the natives. Inflammation of the lungs, due largely to unhealthy dwellings and lack of care with clothing, accounts for the higher mortality among the natives.

The dryness and purity of the air away from the coast account for the absence of most forms of chest disease. More than one sufferer from consumption in its earliest stages, who has come from Europe, has found a new lease of life on the salubrious uplands. There can be no doubt that in spite of the abnormal heat sometimes experienced, South-West Africa is well fitted to afford a pleasant home and to maintain in vigour people drawn from the cooler regions of Europe. That healthy children can be reared here has been already demonstrated.