Grootfontein

The place was known to the Herero under the name Otjivanda.[4] In 1885, 40 Boer families from the north-west of South Africa settled at Grootfontein. Part of the Dorsland trekkers, they were heading towards Angola. When that territory fell under Portuguese control, they turned back and established the Republic of Upingtonia at Grootfontein. Abandoned by 1887, it became the headquarters of the South West Africa Company in 1893.

In 1908 the Roman Catholic church established a mission in Grootfontein as the basis of their eventually successful attempt to establish missions in Kavango.[5]

Like all the towns in the Otavi Triangle, Grootfontein is very green in summer but drier in winter. In spring, jacaranda and flamboyant trees bloom in profusion. The town has an old German Schutztruppe fortress from the year 1896, which today houses a museum that expounds on the local history. The economic mainspring of the area were for many decades the Berg Aukas and Abenab mines to the north east of the town. These produced zinc and vanadium but have since closed. This is dolomite country and the carbonate deposits in the upper parts of the mine have yielded interesting fossils of simian or pongoid creatures that lived millions of years before modern humans evolved.

Hoba meteorite (2014)

Twenty four kilometres west of Grootfontein lies the huge Hoba meteorite. At over 60 tons, it is the largest known meteorite on Earth, as well as being the largest naturally occurring mass of iron known to exist on the planet's surface.

Grootfontein receives an annual average rainfall of 557 millimetres (21.9 in), with a high of 956 mm (37.6 in) in the 2010/2011 rainy season,[8] and a low of 230 mm (9.1 in) during the 2010s drought in 2018/19.[9]

Grootfontein is governed by a municipal council that has seven seats.[10]

The 2015 local authority election was won by Namibia's ruling SWAPO party which gained five seats and 2,019 votes. One seat each went to the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA, 546 votes) and to the All People's Party (APP, 154 votes).[11]

Previously the German school Regierungsschule Grootfontein was in the town. In 1965 it had 4 teachers and 117 learners and was supported by German government.[12]

Grootfontein is home to four high schools, Grootfontein Secondary School, Otjiwanda High School[13] Friedrich Awaseb Senior Secondary School,[14] and the Grootfontein Agricultural College, and six primary schools namely Luiperdheuwel Primary School,Kalenga Primary School,Makalani Primary School, Omulunga Primary school, Grootfontein Agri College and Wilhelm Nortier Primary School.

• Behati Prinsloo – model, best known for working with Victoria's Secret
• Leon Jooste – SWAPO politician and businessman[15]
• Hage Geingob – The President of the Republic of Namibia
• Lydia Katjita – SWAPO politician and member of the Pan-African Parliament
• Hannes Smith – journalist
• Inge Zaamwani – businesswoman

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grootfontein.

• Official website
• Web site of the Alte Fort Museum in the former German Schutztruppe fortress