Armed conflict in central Namibia took the form especially of cattle raids. Drought forced Herero herders to move their stock southward into the area around Windhoek, producing fighting between Jan Jonker Afrikaner and the Rehoboth Basters on one side and Maherero on the other. The alliances were not fixed: the pages describe a complex pattern of shifting and cross-ethnic relationships rather than a simple, permanent division between groups.

In 1880, apparently after an incident at a cattle post, Maherero ordered the killing of all Nama-Oorlam in and around the Okahandja region. After several months of heavy fighting, violence became a more decentralized but still intense succession of cattle raids. In western and north-western Namibia, Nama, Damara, and San communities also fought Herero over cattle.

The conflicts were intensified by economic pressure. Damara groups around central Namibia had already been impoverished by the expansion of Herero herds and their increasing use as labourers. The drought of 1880, worsened by commercial hunting and the depletion of game, caused severe suffering. Damara communities moved toward neighbouring mountains, while some groups entered settlements and claimed ownership of land around Okombaha.

Recruitment to the Cape added another dimension to the crisis. Between 1879 and 1882, Cape authorities recruited at least 200 Damara men, 50 women, and perhaps 100 children for domestic, farm, and other work. Some Damara resisted these pressures by fleeing to the Swartboois; together, in 1887, they successfully defended Otjitambi against Herero attacks.