The Thirstland Trek

No other event in the history of southern Africa left such an indelible mark as the Thirstland Trek. For example, the popular travel writer Lawrence Green described it as "the most painful chapter in the whole history of the Afrikaner race". Shortly after the arrival at Humpata, the Earl of Mayo described the trekkers as follows: "Taking them all round, a finer set of men I have never seen; without doubt, during that terrible seven years' journey it was a case of the survival of the fittest."

"The Thirstland Trek, 1874-1881" gives a gripping account of the approximately 700 individuals (apart from an unknown number of black servants) who left the Transvaal from 1874 to 1877 and settled after a journey of seven years at Humpata on the highlands of Angola in 1881. During this epic trek, approximately 230 white trekkers died and almost the same number returned to the Transvaal. Although some 130 babies were born during the trek, only about 370 people eventually reached their promised land.