Four metamorphic zones are distinguished in the upper Black Nossob River area of the eastern Damara Orogen. Three of the zones are located in the better exposed Onyati Mountains Schist Belt in the western portion of the mapped area. These are, from south to north, the staurolite-kyanite zone (zone I), the staurolite-sillimanite zone (zone II), and the biotite-sillimanite zone (zone III), which are separated by the kyanite-sillimanite and the staurolite-out isograds respectively. A biotite-kyanite zone (zone IV) occurs in the south-central and eastern parts of the area, the Ekuja-Otjihangwe Nappe Complex. Phase equilibria together with garnet-biotite geothermometry and garnet-plagioclase geobarometry indicate an increase in metamorphic temperature and a decrease in pressure from zone I in the south to zone III in the north. However, temperatures for zones I and II are the same and they only show an increase across the staurolite-out isograd from approximately 590°C in zone II to 630°C in zone III. On the other hand the pressure in zones II and III was constant at approximately 4.5kb, but distinctly higher pressures close to 6kb were recorded for zone I. Therefore, the kyanite-sillimanite isograd reflects a decrease in pressure from zone I into zone II, whereas the staurolite-out isograd between zones II and III corresponds to an increase in temperature at approximately constant pressure. In zone IV, temperatures between 590°C and 623°C and pressures between 6.5kb and 7.7 kb were recorded. Metamorphic reaction textures, garnet zoning profiles, and the persistence of metastable kyanite in zones II and III suggest that the Onyati Mountains Schist Belt experienced extensive decompression during prograde metamorphism. In contrast, reaction textures and garnet zoning profiles in samples from the Vaalgras Subgroup indicate that the Ekuja-Otjihangwe Nappe Complex experienced more or less isobaric heating followed by moderate decompression during and after the peak of metamorphism.