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Grootfontein

Grootfontein is a city in Otjozondjupa Region, Namibia. It lies on the B8, a Namibian National Road that leads from Windhoek to the Caprivi Strip, in the Otavi triangle. In Afrikaans, its name means "Big Spring" - there is indeed a large hot spring near the town.

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.

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.

 


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