Lower Orange River views

Abstract

Joan M. Schwartz argues that since “photographs participated in the construction of imaginative geographies,” they also merit attention in historical geography because they support the “virtual witnessing” of landscape across space and time (1996, 19). The first photograph of this visual essay (Figure 1), for instance, was made on January 24, 2020 the final day of the Space in Time (Space in Time: Landscape narratives and land management changes in a Southern African crossborder region, is an interdisciplinary joint research project between the University of Cape Town, University of Basel and University of Namibia.) workshop in Oranjemund, during a tour of the river mouth and the nearby ruins of Hohenfels, a former police station during the time of the German colonial empire. Like the rest of the images, this photograph stands as a visual record of the lower Orange/Gariep river’s (LOR) expansive history, one that can be measured against future changes but also contributes to conveying “an overarching appreciation of the significance of space, place and landscape in the making and meaning of social and cultural life” (Harvey 1990, 418). Indeed, another photograph (Figure 4) made at the ruins of Hohenfels former police station but taken from another perspective suggests that the river is much less powerful than at first sight. The fourth image, Empty Echo Corner, was made at the Augrabies Falls National Park, and is resonant with both fluvial and geological echoes of Anthropocene considerations. The park is home to fascinating rock formations, and Echo Corner is one of three viewpoints to see the Orange River thunder through the park, sometimes cascading powerfully and at other times a mere trickle. The visual and aural display is second only to the sight and sound of the river meeting the ocean, but as the name suggests, Echo Corner produces eerie echoes that loop around as a reminder of the intertwining of space and time. The final photograph (Figure 6) of two swimming pools constructed at Riemvasmaak Hot Springs, invites visitors to relax in the natural wonder of these therapeutic waters, a product of volcanic eruptions that have long since ceased, but continue to be heated by deep underground activity. Riemvasmaak is close to the Namibian border, situated between the LOR and the now dry, Molopo River; a haunting reminder of both resilient geomorphology and the ephemerality of fluvial forms.