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. 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. The “mak volk” was a colourful and interesting 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. 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