Otavi

Old mining town in the Otavi mountains

Otavi is the district town of the Otjozondjupa region and has approximately 4,900 inhabitants. Together with the tows Grootfontein and Tsumeb it forms the so-called Otavi-Triangle, also called Copper- or Maize-Triangle, referring to an area extensively used for cultivation (due to high rainfalls) and for mining activities.

Otavi was founded in 1900 and is a former “rail town”, as it was built along the railway to Tsumeb. The railway was built to exploit the copper recourses of Tsumeb.  This railway was built by the „Otavi Minen- und Eisenbahngesellschaft“ (Otavi Mines and Railway Society), which was founded in 1900 in Berlin and is today registered in Neuss (Otavi Mineralien GmbH).

Otavi is home to a German private school which is attended by about 18 scholars, which makes it Namibia’s smallest private school.

Otavi is well situated along the three-way intersection of the B1, B8 and the C39, from which good access is granted to the Etosha National Park, the Caprivi Strip as well as the "Bushmenland" in the east.