Maltahöhe
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Maltahöhe
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Main Street |
Maltahohe is a small town
standing about mid-point on the long C14 North - South gravel road
and is 110km west of Mariental along a good tarred road. Standard Bank have a branch in the town.
There is a fuel filling station and limited repair facilities. We recommend that you stock up with
supplies in one of the larger towns. There is not much to see in Maltahohe.
However, it is a popular over night destination for travellers using the C14 and
visiting Sossusvlei.
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During the early German times this vast central
area of Namibia was administered from the tiny settlement at Gibeon.
The District Commissioner was Schutztruppe Captain Hennig Von
Burgsdorf who, in 1899, was of the opinion that for strategic
reasons there should be an outpost further to the west of the
district. He looked for a suitable location and was accompanied by
his wife on that particular journey. They discovered a good water
spring on a hilly outcrop and decided this was 'the place' and
pitched camp. Soon A small Schutztruppe outpost was established
there and the captain named it Maltahohe after his wife's name
Martha, Beathe, Louise. At a later occasion he was questioned by a
Government official as to where the name came from. His reply was
short and to the point, "My wife and I discovered the place and it
will stand fast." There is no record of any objection to this
announcement and so the little town was born. Maltahohe is a popular stay
over place and springboard for tourists visiting
Duwisib Castle and
or Sesriem /
Sossusvlei.
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Offizierhaus 1909 |
Maltahohe Hotel 1914 |
Hotel entrance today |
Heike and Arno |
My mate at the bar |
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The Maltahohe Hotel is the oldest surviving hotel
in the country, opening in 1909, and the owners have wisely kept the old
world facade and entrance. The modern accommodation block being at
the rear of the hotel. The original bar is still there, and it is to this
water-hole that in the early years of the last century
Hansheinrich Von Wolf, the master of
Duwisib Castle
would ride to sate his thirst and need for some manly company.
Legend has it that there were occasions when being deep in the booze
and in high spirits he would draw his 10,5m Reichs-Revolver and
shoot at the bottles on the display shelves behind the bar. A
gentleman to the end, he would pay the evenings bar accounts of his
drinking companions and make good any costs of the merrymaking to
the Inn-keeper.
The Maltahohe Hotel is still a good waterhole, and
the last one for miles around. The owners are Arno and Heike Rahn
and they'll make you most welcome, but guns are neither welcome or
allowed in the bar. You can see my little mate sitting at the bar enjoying his
ice-cream. He enjoyed the story about Von Wolf and the gun. He asked lots of
questions, such as,
"Did he sit here?" and, "Is a Reichsrevolver bigger than my dads?"
"It's most likely that he did, because this is a good place to sit. And, I
think if he were here today he might just have a problem getting 10,5mm ammo
for his 'big side iron'." I answered.
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About Those Lillies
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Elephant Nosed Beetle |
Hans picking lilies |
Pink... |
...and White |
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The 'Big-South' is one of the dryer parts of Namibia. Some areas hardly
receive any rain for years, and weather out here is a strange thing. There
are years when it rains so much that people are isolated for days, and when
it rains like this there are the Lilies. "What's the story about the
Lilies down at Maltahohe?" I'm asked. OK. Here goes. About 35km north of the
town, there
is a farm, and on this farm there is a large shallow pan that covers an area
of about 800 hectares. (For those who use imperial measuring units, that
equals the size of about 800 football fields. When it rains heavily on the
farm, the pan, or vlei, as it's called down here, floods to a depth of about
40cm. Within a few short days the Lilies, that could have laid dormant for
many years push their way quickly through the shallow water and bloom. It's
a wondrous site that has to be seen quickly, because within a week, they
have all withered away, or been munched by the millions of elephant nosed
beetles, as seen above left. Where these guys come from, I'll have to
investigate, for as beetles go, they're quite a handsome site.
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Travel To
By Road - Self Drive: (There are no scheduled bus
services to Maltahohe) Drive the C14 South from
Solitaire 246km Drive the C14 North from Goageb
286km Drive the C19 from Mariental 111km
Distances from Maltahohe
( km / Miles )
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Aus |
Duwisib Castle |
Goageb |
Luderitz |
Marientall |
Sesriem |
| 249 / 155 |
85 / 53 |
286 / 178 |
374 / 232 |
111 / 69 |
185 / 115 |
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