Dorsland Trek (Thirstland Trek) is the collective name of a series of explorations undertaken by Boer settlers from South Africa from 1874 to 1881, in search of political independence and better living conditions. The participants, Trekboers ("migrating farmers"; the singular is trekboer)Merriam Webster from the Orange Free State and Transvaal, are called Dorslandtrekkers.
Political background and previous treks After the Great Trek a community arose that comprised a few Voortrekkers spread in different groups across a large geographical area in the Transvaal. However, there was no unity amongst them as there was no leader who could unite the different groups. Serious political and church disputes at some stage even led to a civil war.
After the Great Trek had initially impoverished the community, their geographic isolation resulted in further economic and intellectual isolation. Despite the lack of wealth or education, the average Transvaal Boer felt very independent. This easily escalated into stubbornness and the reluctance or inability to accept the authority of others. During the Great Trek and settlement afterwards, their education was completely neglected. As a result, the Transvaal Boers on the eve of the Thirstland Trek were a severely divided society, especially in terms of religion. They were therefore at a disadvantage in almost all aspects when compared to their peers in the rest of South Africa.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 49
There was probably not one single reason for this, but rather a combination of reasons why a small group of aggrieved Boers decided to leave the Transvaal. The primary reasons for the Thirstland Trek were religious ones and expostulation against President Thomas Burgers’ progressive policy, specifically his new education legislation, the unpleasant circumstances in the Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church) and the search for a New Jerusalem. Consequently, it was mainly the members of the Gereformeerde Kerk who participated in the Thirstland Trek. Political and economic reasons such as the fear of being regarded as equal to black people, uncertain political conditions, the fear of humanisation (in terms of opposition to new ideas), lack of land and population pressure, poverty and a fear of paying more tax could have played an additional, less important, role. It is clear that the so-called “trek spirit” played no role whatsoever during the trek. Opposition to British imperial expansion probably also did not play any significant part in the minds of most trekkers who left before April 1877. By far the majority of the Transvaal population and almost all the members of the other church denominations were not as unhappy as their compatriots with the circumstances and chose to remain in the Transvaal.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 99
At spiritual level there were huge differences among the Thirstland Trekkers, who had a more conservative character, and their fellow citizens in the Transvaal. In a few instances the mental state of the Jerusalemgangers (a group of Voortrekkers in the Transvaal who wanted to trek overland to Jerusalem in Palestine) affected the Trekkers. Their conservative outlook on life also affected their level of education detrimentally. Almost all the people who met the Thirstland Trekkers commented on their low level of education.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 123
The “mak volk” was a group of labourers who accompanied the Thirstland Trekkers and adapted the way of life and spiritual culture of the Trekkers. Despite the fact that an estimated 130–200 “mak volk” participated in the Thirstland Trek, they were mainly an “invisible” part of the Trek. Often their contribution to the Trek is ignored. In many reminiscences, narratives and statistics about the trek they are not even mentioned. They were descendants of the indigenous people of South Africa of which most of them were taken as children on the battlefield and were then raised by the trekkers. As a result of their shared experiences during the trek, a very close relationship arose between them and the white Thirstland trekkers.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 134
Routes of the trek
First Trek The trekkers left the Transvaal in three different groups. After they trekked from the district Pretoria on 20 May 1874 and camped for a year next to the Limpopo, the first group of trekkers left the Transvaal in May 1875. This group of 10 families, altogether 60 persons besides the “mak volk” travelling with them, trekked with relatively little loss of cattle and people through the Thirstland and in September 1875 reached the Ngami lake. After a sojourn of two months at Ghanzi, they stayed for two years, from January 1876 to January 1878, at Rietfontein in the Sandveld. In the meantime, William Coates Palgrave, as representative of the Cape government, had discussions with the Herero and Nama-Oorlam captains about possible expansion of the British government's control in South Africa to Namaland and Hereroland. Palgrave's interference incited most of the Herero and Nama-Oorlam captains against the trekkers before the first trekker even set foot in the area. After the trekkers of the first trek group tried unsuccessfully for two years to obtain land in Namaland and Hereroland, they had to abandon this idea. By this time they were still unsure in which direction they should trek. Shortly after this they would merge with the trekkers of the second and third treks and continue their difficult sojourn through the unknown regions of southern Africa for a further three years.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 174
Even before the first trek group had left the Transvaal, the first trekkers of the second trek began to trek from the districts Pretoria and Rustenburg in April 1875. After they reached Limpopo in May 1875, they aimlessly roamed around along the river while hunting to pass the time for two years until 1877. From time to time newcomers joined them. The Ngwato chief Khama, across whose land they had to trek at that stage, was still sympathetic towards them and gave them permission to trek through the Thirstland. In March 1876 they missed a golden opportunity to trek. It would seem as if this group of trekkers at that stage still did not know in which direction they wanted to trek.
By April 1876 the first cases of malaria broke out among them and in July 1876 the first of more than 160 persons who would perish of this disease, died. In the same period the region was drought-stricken while discord among the leaders surfaced. The relations between the trekkers and Khama also deteriorated. Khama withdrew his offer that they could trek across his region, presumably because of the grinding drought that made it impossible. It is estimated that at this stage the group comprised a total of 116 white families with 586 family members, apart from the unknown number of “mak volk”.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 230
Second Trek The second trek group eventually left the Limpopo on 10 April 1877 and trekked along the Mahalapye River without permission. A delegation from Khama, comprising the missionary Hepburn, the trader Alfred Musson as interpreter, and seven council members tried in vain to convince them not to take on this dangerous journey. There was suspicion about Khama's motives and his good advice that they should break up into smaller groups to trek across the Thirstland. The trekkers thought he wanted to divide them into smaller groups because it would then be easier for him to kill them in these groups.
Despite an agreement the trekkers reached the previous evening to trek in separate groups a few days apart, complete disorder prevailed when the first trekkers left Letloche on the morning of 7 May 1877 and the rest of the trek party followed them as one group. In the total absence of leadership there were no order and discipline and the stage was set for the disaster that followed.
During the next seven to ten days water spots such as Tlhabala, Inkowane and Lethlakane were the setting for shocking scenes: From the third day on these banks the terrified bellows of the cows and screams of other animals were indescribable. In their distress, some of the oxen stormed ahead and trampled a few watering holes to mush. Thereafter they completely lost control and ran off. Most were never found again or eventually died of thirst. The suffering of the trekkers was no less heart-breaking. At times water had to be rationed between them in spoons. Some were so desperate to take in any form of fluid to assuage their thirst that they slit the throats of sheep, goats or even dogs and drank their blood or intestinal fluids. Amazingly enough, none of the trekkers died of thirst, however malaria still caused deaths. In these dismal circumstances the leader of the trek, Commandant Louw du Plessis, took the blame for the disastrous trek and resigned.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 265
Third Trek After the Transvaal was annexed by Great Britain on 12 April 1877, a third group of trekkers, consisting of eight families of 40 people in addition to the “mak volk”, left that very same month, departing from the district of Rustenburg.
When the trekkers of the first two groups reached the Meers River, they remained there for two and a half months to recover from their disastrous journey and to take back the abandoned wagons to the Meers River. Since they only had 326 oxen left (about 20 teams) to pull roughly a hundred wagons, their progress was laborious. Ever so slowly they trekked further along the Meers River. At Sebetwane's Drift they established that 37 people had already died at that stage of the trek. But the worst was yet to come. Regulations for the trek were drawn up and a new leadership body was elected, with Jan Greyling as commandant. Meanwhile, help had arrived at Rietfontein in the form of some 184 draught oxen from the first trekker party and this speeded up the trek somewhat.
It took them 25 days to trek from Sebetwane's Drift to Lake Ngami, arriving there on 25 September 1877. Here the group split up. Ten to eleven families under Louw du Plessis trekked to Rietfontein to join the first trekker party, while the rest trekked northwestwards along the Okavango River.Stassen, N. 2016. The Thirstland Trek 1874–1881. Pretoria: Protea Book House. pp. 289–290