Chapter 6 details how the administration since the mid 1920s sought to encapsulate north-western Namibia. Boundaries were enforced and wide no-man's lands were established to prevent cross-boundary mobility: mobility into southern Angola, mobility into the western margins of the Cuvelai delta, and mobility to the south. The encapsulation of north-west Namibia went along with enforced measures of veterinary control and trade restrictions: herders were forcefully confined to subsistence pastoralism and the spatial reach was massively restricted.

Chapter 5 deals with the establishment of a colonial administration in the region. Whereas the German administration hardly established any enduring administrative structures in the region, the South African government was more ambitious to ensure dominance and administrative effectiveness. Closely connected to (but not controlled by) the advancing colonial administration is the rapid repastoralisation of the population. Within a period of thirty years a community subsisting mainly on foraging and small stock keeping turns itself into a prosperous cattle rearing community.

The second chapter deals with the emergence of pastoralism in the region. Three controversial versions of pastoralisation are discussed: pastoralisation brought about by immigrating specialised herder communities, pastoralisation as a consequence of slave raiding and political centralisation in southern Angola, and gradual pastoralisation within a forager context. The chapter offers an in-depth study of oral traditions which have much detail on this process. They depict communities that practise both foraging and pastoral strategies. The phase of gradual pastoralisation comes to an abrupt end when Nama commandos from the south raid north-west Namibia's pastoral communities and violently force them into exile in southern Angola. The engagement of refugees with Portuguese colonial forces as mercenaries and cheap labourers helped them to regain livestock and options as pastoralists.