The upper Swakop River area east of Okahandja has been subdivided into three tectonostratigraphic units. These are the Swakop Terrane in the north and north-west, the Onjona-Eleksie Nappe Complex in the east, and the Onyati Mountains Schist Belt in the central and western parts. The latter are both regarded as part of the Khomas Terrane which is separated from the Swakop Terrane by the Okahandja Lineament. Typical Nosib Group sediments are absent in the mapped area and the pre-Damara basement gneiss is overlain by a -unit of coarse-grained, glassy quartzite, calc-silicate rock, marble and schist belonging to the Swakop Group of the Damara Sequence. This in turn is overlain by a very thick succession of schists of the Kuiseb Formation which represents the uppermost part of the Swakop Group. On the basis of structural and stratigraphic criteria the Kuiseb Formation has been subdivided into the lower, middle, and upper schist. In the west the Kuiseb schists are intruded by syntectonic Damara granites, syn- and post-tectonic pegmatites and the Otjisazu Alkaline Igneous Complex of unknown age. Four phases of intense deformation have resulted in repeated folding, large-scale thrusting, and three penetrative foliations. Thrusts are restricted to the Onjona-Eleksie Nappe Complex, but at least one back thrust has been mapped in the Onyati Mountains Schist Belt. Early D1 fabrics are restricted to the lower schist unit of the Kuiseb Formation, while the upper schist has only been affected by D3 deformation. The syntectonic sediments of the upper schist unit are interpreted as fore-arc basin deposits. Complete stratigraphic and structural continuity between the Khomas and the Swakop Terrane to the east-north-east of Okahandja suggests that the choice of the Okahandja Lineament as a terrane boundary is not justified in the upper Swakop River area.