Namibia Travel
info
namibia

Select your language

Otjiwarongo

The place of the fat cows

Otjiwarongo is found along the B1, about 250 km north of Windhoek. East of the town, about 50 km away the Waterberg mountain range can be found. The name Otjiwarongo is derived from the Herero language and means „place of the fat cows“. Some of the best cattle breeding farms can still be found in the area today, as the area offers relatively good conditions for cattle breeding for Namibian standards: High rainfall and fertile grounds, resulting in good pastures.

Map

Back to Namibia Map

Otjiwarongo, which today is home to about 22,000 people, was founded in 1892 as one of South West Africa’s first towns. Until 1900 the place was inhabitaed by Herero and some Nama, before the first German settlers arrived. In 1906 the first German shop opend in Otjiwarongo.

Otjiwarongo is important due to its central location. From here farms of the surrounding area are being supplied.

A crocodile farm can be visited in the eastern part of the town. Here the animals can be viewed from a close distance and information about the breeding and the live of the crocodiles can be obtained.

Throughout the region you can find private game farms and reserves as well as game lodges. Some game farms have made the protection of the African big cats their main mission. This has led to the merging of several farms around the Waterberg Mountain to form the „Waterberg Conservancy“, a game and nature reserve of 20,000 hectares. Part of this conservancy is the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF).

Otjiwarongo has a very affluent and neat appearance. It has a lot of greenery and high walls or barbed- wired premises, as often seen in Windhoek are rather seldom here.

Tourists interested in the country’s history are advised to visit the Waterberg Mountain, where in August 1904, around 40,000 Hereros were defeated by German troops and were driven into the Omaheke were most of them died an agonising death.

Info-Namibia Cookie