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Damara (Namibia)

by Mark Sensen

Explanation of Damara's flag

Explanation of Damara's flag

The proposed flag for Damaraland differs from those of Ovambo, Kavango and Caprivi in that it was designed by the South African Bureau of Heraldry. A request to design arms and a flag was made to the South African State Herald on 2 May 1979. With the request were rough designs and some background information on Damaraland, pointing out that it was essentially a stony semi-desert area with low rainfall. Furthermore, agriculture revolved mainly around cattle, goats and karakul sheep. It was also pointed out that the Damara consist of eight tribes. No mention was made of the 1864 flag and neither was the Bureau of Heraldry then aware that such a flag had existed. On the strength of the information received, the State Herald devised draft arms and a draft flag based on the shield of the arms. The official description of the flag was as follows:
Quarterly per Scandinavian cross, white and brown, the intersection surmounted by a pale raguly of eight, counterchanged, the projections opposite each other.
In essence a pale raguly was suggested in the shield of the arms to represent the Damara, with the eight projections representing each of the eight tribes. Although the colour brown is not often encountered in heraldry, in this case it was suggested to represent both the arid countryside and the Damara's links with nature.
In October 1979 the State Herald was informed that the draft designs had been accepted by the Damara Representative Authority. However, neither the arms nor the flag wer