Windhoek Cactus and the Cactus Lady Who Hates Them

In recent months, Gunhild Voights, also known as The Cactus Lady, had been trying to contact anyone and everyone in local government, NGOs, and any organization to spread the worrisome word of cactus plants taking over the city. Comliments to her perseverance, she tracked down the deputy political/economics officer at the embassy who agreed to take a tour of the city with Gunhild. The officer asked me to join her and I agreed, despite the fact that it was blazes hot and I had just sat down to eat my lunch. I am a sucker for human interest stories. 

We walked out of the embassy to meet her, a tall, thin woman in her 70's with hair so white it hurt my eyes. She was pacing back and forth across the entrance, surveilling the building and worrying the local guards on duty.  She seemed to be talking to herself, rapidly pointing out all of the embassy plants that were considered invasive: wonderbloom trees; all of the cactus planted in the barricades; the trees that bear yellow, bell shaped flowers. It was only then that she introduced herself to me and my colleague. 

Gunhild walked us to her white, 1988 VW van with dual sliding doors where her husband, Friedhelm, a man with a fantastically long beard and thick glasses, waited. The engine chugged to life and he rolled up his window, though I am not sure why. The van had no air conditioning and at mid-day it was 95F and only getting hotter. Gunhild barked orders in German to take a left at the next intersection, as if he had no idea where we were headed. With several more directions given, five minutes later we arrived at the Legal Assistance Center, where our tour would begin. The weathered woman, wearing hiking sandals and pants, she all but ran up the hill, my colleague and I chasing after her in not-so-sensible work shoes and skirts.

A born and raised Namibian, Gunhild is Windhoek’s default cactus expert. She raised her family working as a goldsmith but when she noticed the spread of cactus taking over her children’s playground where she herself had once played as a child, she had an ominously sad feeling. Appeals to the city didn’t work, so she and her husband took matters into their own hands, removing massive piles of tangled, prickly plants one by one. The work was hard and onerous, but worth it. The first project quickly transformed into a mission: all over the city, underneath the brush and hiding in plain sight are cactus plants, proliferating right under everyone’s noses.

Sure, some of the cacti are beautiful. Most of them in Windhoek, however, are unpalatable masses that spread and grow quickly in the dry climate. None of them native either (except for one) to the entirety of the continent, let alone Namibia. Of the 2,000 different types of species found worldwide, 23 of them have been identified within the city, according to Helmuth Zimmermann, an environmental scientist from Pretoria. He came here to do surveillance with Gunhild in 2017. 

The conditions are favorable here, being as dry and hot as it is, so the cacti grow quickly and aggressively. Within the city there are tons of trails amongst the rocky hills, shaded by mostly native trees such as the camelthorn, acacia, and shepherd's tree.  Most of paths have been rendered useless due to the overgrowth of cactus. (That, and because of people constantly getting robbed in the bushes, but that is besides the point). In the outskirts of the city, however, cacti have started creeping up on land used for livestock, taking over essential space normally reserved for grasses and bushes needed or food. Cattle and wildlife can't wander the spaces with ease either.

Gunhild created Cactus Clean Up Namibia, a grassroots organization that exists solely based on donations. When she and Friedhelm have funds, they hire day labors to assist them with the manual removal of cactus patches throughout the city. The laborers earn lunch, water, and a small stipend of N$140.  The labor is brutal too. Blistering sunshine, hot temperatures, minimal shade and water, and these pokey little SOBs. They make for a long 8 hour day, raking out the shallow roots and tossing literally thousands of plant corpses (which equals thousands of pounds worth) into construction bins. There is so much undergrowth that the laborers usually fill up an 8,000 liter bin in a single day. 

Australia, which has banned cacti growth, battles their invasion by charging hefty fines for non-removal, using pesticide sprays, and introducing caterpillars to eat the flowers and plants. The potential contamination of Windhoek’s aquifer makes the use of pesticides problematic and not desirable. Introducing cochineal insects such as the Cactoblastis caterpillar (yes that is the official name) would be a logical and safer method, but the expense is prohibitive at this time.

The Cactus Lady wants to spread awareness, knowledge, and motivation to the community and to team up and attack the problem to good old sweat and tears. Recently she did receive a piece of good news: the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry sent her a letter concurring that cacti are indeed a problem that must be addressed. They agreed to not plant any more cactus on municipal land. It’s a small victories in life, but she's still got a long way to go. 

In the van, we toured several more spots of the city including the future site of the new embassy compound, where construction and landscaping crews are dismantling the current house on the property, chasing off black mambas, and navigating their way through unkempt terrain of- wait for it: jungles of ugly, unfriendly cacti. Hopefully Gunhild's timing will work in the favor of landscape planning and nary a cactus will be found in five or six year's time when they finally open. 

Once you see it, you can't unsee it.
On the plus side, my friend says cacti roots
are incredible for composting purposes. Grind them up and plant
with drought-resistant saplings and BOOM: enviro-plant-power.
Tip credit goes to: Zeke's Dog's Dad

Gunhild in front of one (of four) giant piles of
cacti they cut down over the festive season, about 4 week's worth.

DIE Cacti!

The flyer she hands out