Our history

“De nich will dieken, mutt wieken” – “If you don’t dike, you leave” This motto is engraved on the Diekmann family’s coat of arms and signifies their hailing from the little village of Diekmannshausenon the Jade Estuary, a bay on the North Sea. In 1908 Gustav Diekmann left his home village to emigrate to the German colony “Deutsch-Südwestafrika”, now independent Namibia.

1908: The carpenter turned farmer and restaurant proprietor Gustav Diekmann and his oldest son Wilhelm go on board in Bremerhaven for the passage to Swakopmund. Four weeks later they arrive in the then German colony Deutsch-Südwestafrika.

1909: After buying the farm near the Waterberg, they embark on their first agricultural experiments by plant the seeds of beans, maize and potatoes brought from Germany.

1909: Towards the end of the year, the rest of the family arrives from Germany and moves into the first stone house Gustav had built for them on the farm.

1910: The foundations for future cattle farming are laid with the acquisition of fifty milk cows and a black-and-white Frisian bull.

1911/12: Wilhelm Diekmann begins an apprenticeship as bricklayer in Otjiwarongo.

1912: With the money earned brick-laying Wilhelm Diekmann buys his own farm “Groß-Onjoka” (the first part of the name “Groß” meaning large in German, the second part “Onjoka” snake in Otjiherero). Here he successfully experiments with growing tobacco.

1912: Gustav Diekmann establishes a workshop for waggons and agricultural implements.

1914 – 1918: World War I rages, but Hamakari remains unaffected.

1917/1918: The large dam near Hamakari is built.

1918: Gustav Diekmann unexpectedly dies at Otjiwarongo at the age of 52, leaving behind a wife and thirteen children.

1919: Widow Gesine Diekmann and some of the children return to Germany. Son Wilhelm inherits the farm Hamakari, which his mother will only return to in 1932. The workshop in Otjiwarongo is run by a tenant.

1921: Wilhelm travels to Germany to seek a suitable wife.

1922: In Hamburg he marries Gertrud Schäfer. After the wedding he brings her home to Africa.

1922: Son Gerd is born in the Princess Rupprecht Home in Swakopmund.

1923/24: The Big Drought hits the country claiming many livestock.

1925: A new extended farmhouse is built on Hamakari.

1929: Wilhelm Diekmann buys his first car – a Ford A with a wood gas generator.

1936: The family takes an extended holiday in Germany and visits the Olympic Games in Berlin.

1939 – 1945: World War II. Wilhelm Diekmann and other German speaking South West Africans are interned by the South African authorities.

1946: Wilhelm Diekmann returns home. His wife Gertrud had successfully run the farm for six years.

1957: Wilhelm (jun), the current head of the family is born on Hamakari.

1958: Wilhelm Diekmann (sen.) hands over the reins of Hamakari to his son Gerd and moves to Windhoek.

1958: Hamakari celebrates its 50th anniversary with an oxwaggon parade.

1962/63: Foot and Mouth Disease breaks out and for two years there is no income from cattle.

1970: Gertrud Diekmann dies in Swakopmund.

1971: Gerd Diekmann dies tragically when a bull runs him over during a routine cattle vaccination exercise.

1982: Wilhelm Diekmann (jun.) takes over the running of Hamakari from his mother after having acquired a degree in agriculture from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He still runs the farm today.

1986: Wilhelm marries Sabine Freyer in the “Christuskirche” in Windhoek.

1987: Wilhelm Diekmann introduces trophy hunting on Hamakari and the first hunters arrive from Europe.

1989: Sabine and Wilhelms daughter Frauke is born. The sons Hartmut, Volker and Wolfgang follow.

1991: Namibia celebrates its independence from South African rule.

2005: Hamakari becomes a popular guestfarm.

2008: Hamakari celebrates its 100th anniversary. The festivities on the farm are led by Berlins youth symphonic orchestra and a school choir from Okakarara.