Tsumeb

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Tsumeb

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De-Wet Head -gear

De-Wet Shaft Head-gear

 Main street

Main Street

 Native Copper

Native Copper

 Dioptase

Dioptase

  
Tsumeb was founded over 100 years ago as an important  copper mining town and is today the capital town of the Oshikoto Region of northern Namibia. The climate is sub-tropical having a mean maximum temperature of 29,7°C and a mean minimum temperature of 14,4°C. The average rainfall is 555mm per annum. The town has a population of about 16.000 people. Tsumeb has always been associated with the mining of copper and is presently the operational center of the Ongopolo Mining and Processing Ltd. Tsumeb is also a popular stay over for tourists traveling on to the Etosha game Park. You'll find good accommodation here, but be sure to book in advance.

 

The Tsumeb MIne - 'De Wet Mine Shaft' (now closed) was the main access to the extensive underground mining complex that was worked to a depth in excess of 1200 meters and remains world famous. This was the only known ore body in the world that comprised of Cadmium, Copper, Germanium, Gold, Lead, Silver and Zinc. To date total of 226 different minerals were found, of which 40 were unique to the Tsumeb Ore Body. A variety of semi precious minerals such as, Dioptase, Malachite and Tourmaline were found.

 

Tsumeb Museum:

Don't miss the Museum which is at the eastern end of the main street. It's one of the best in the country and has excellent displays of the various minerals that came out of the mine, plus many other interesting displays.

 

  
The Museum

The Museum

 Excellent Collections

Excellent Collections

 Transport Section

Transport Section

 Recovery of Gun

Recovery of Gun

 Krupp 80mm Field Gun

Krupp 80mm Field Gun

  

 

The Kaiser's Guns:

Just prior to the surrender of the Kaiser's Forces to the Union of South Africa troops on 9 July 1915 at kilometre 500, a group of Schutztruppe having been driven further and further north with no chance of being re-supplied with arms or ammunition arrived at Lake Otjikoto. It was here that they decided to dump the heavier of their remaining equipment into the lake rather than allow it to fall into enemy hands. Legend has it that one of the German soldiers ankles became entangled in the rigging as the cannons were being pushed off the ledge and he was dragged down and drowned. His ghost is said to haunt the area around  the lake.

 

The South African Union troops recovered the majority of the equipment in 1915, much of which was cleaned and serviced and saw action in the East Africa campaign.

 

In 1984 the Tsumeb Corporation Mine (TCL) financed the recovery operation of several of the German field guns with the assistance of local sub-aqua clubs. After nearly 70 years underwater the condition of the items was reasonably good. The mine engineering staff refurbished the cannons, of which the above are but two of the exhibits at the Museum.

 

  

Local Area Attractions

  
     
Lake Otjikoto Lake Otjikoto. It is an unusual geological feature, being a limestone cap about the size of a foot-ball filed that collapsed into the massive and deep water filled karst-cave system that runs for quite some distance under the ground in this area. It is into this lake that, prior to surrender, the Germans dumped the their weapons and Field-Guns in 1915. There's a small zoo, restaurant and lots of interesting collections at this site. Well worth a visit. Time Budget 1-2 hr ►►  
     
Hoba Meteorite Hoba Meteorite. It weighs-in at over 60 ton, is approximately 3 meters square and about 1 meter in depth. It contains about 82% iron and 16% nickel. It fell to earth about 80,000 years ago, and is the largest known-of metal meteorite in the world. When it came-in to land it didn't cause any crater to be formed, so it probably had a very low trajectory and 'bounced' to its final landing site on the Farm Hoba. National Heritage Site. Camping Available. Time budget 1hr  ►►  

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 Travel To  

By Road - Self Drive:

From Oshikango: Drive B1 road south for 307km

From Windhoek:  Drive B1 road north for 426km

  Distances from Tsumeb    (km / mile)

 By Rail - Scheduled Services

 

 By Road - Scheduled Services

 

Namutoni

 Ondangwa Oshikango Swakopmund Rundu Windhoek
100 / 62 250 / 155 315 / 196 565 / 351 310 / 193 430 / 267
 

Did You Know ?

  
  • The Bushmen called the place 'Tsomsoub' which means, 'to dig a hole in loose ground'.
  • The town's motto is from the old German miner's greeting, 'Gluck Auf" (May luck be with you and bring you up safely)
  
   

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