Otjiwarongo

This is a district where mountainous rocks rise out of the flat earth like ice cream cones, some of which have had their tops licked off. It was dinosaur country and they left a prehistoric legacy of several three-toed footprints for us to see.

Otjiwarongo means 'Pleasant Place' or 'Place Where Fat Cattle Graze', depending who you talk to. It is an agricultural and ranching area, which became prosperous when the narrow-gauge railway was built from Swakopmund on the coast to the Otavi copper mine further north.

This is also true Herero country and a bloody war was fought against the Germans in 1904, where almost the entire Herero community was decimated. There is an excellent craft market not far from the station which sells mostly wooden carved bowls, spoons, ornaments and animals. If all you desire to take home is a 2 metre high giraffe, you will find one here, but a life-sized wooden baby hippo might stretch your luggage weight limit a bit.

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