Insight Guides: Namibia by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Namibia
Publisher: APA
Published: 2014-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

The former Ovamboland is in a malarial area, so consult your pharmacist and start taking prophylactics before you travel here.

Oshakati

From Ondangwa, the C46 leads northwest to Oshakati, Ovamboland’s “capital”. The closer you get, the more built-up the area becomes, and you’ll notice a marked increase in the traffic on the road, too. Little Ongwediva, some 25km (15 miles) from Ondangwa, is a noted educational centre with a well-respected Teacher’s Training College; of more interest to visitors, though, is the Oshana Environment and Art Association’s shop on the main road, selling art from all over the northwest along with a good range of crafts such as jewellery, pottery and baskets.

Fast-growing Oshakati 5 [map] is set near a particularly large oshana which habitually overflows its banks after good rains, damaging houses and other infrastructure in the process – something to bear in mind if you’re travelling during the rainy season. It’s a big, busy town with a lively atmosphere, but there’s not really much worth stopping for here apart from the substantial covered market on the town’s western boundary, which sells everything from frogs caught in local oshanas to woven baskets and dried mopani worms.

The road now loops northwest through the Omusati Region (omusati means “mopane” in Ovambo), and you’ll notice these trees becoming more prolific the further west you go. About 110km (68 miles) from Oshakati, you’ll reach the dusty village of Outapi and the Ombalantu Baobab Tree Heritage Community Campsite 6 [map] (tel: 065 251005; www.spitzkoppereservations.com; charge). Here, an enormous 800-year old baobab tree with a trunk containing a hollowed-out “room” has been put to many different uses in the past, including stints as a church, school and even a post office! Today, it is managed as a community project with a good craft stall attached.

Ruacana Falls

Heading further northwest, you’ll pass the agricultural settlement of Mahanene about 40km (25 miles) from Ombalantu before reaching the turn-off to sleepy Ruacana 7 [map] some 50km (30 miles) further on. There’s a petrol station and a shop here, but little activity – although you may sometimes see stately clusters of Himba clans people who have come east into town to stock up on goods before migrating back deep into the Kaokoveld.

From here, it’s a scenic 25km (16-mile) drive north across the Kunene River and up into Ovamboland’s only mountain range for a view into Angola and the 85-metres (280ft) high Ruacana Falls. Once a magnificent natural attraction, these are now dry except during the very wettest part of the rainy season (March–April), thanks to the upstream construction of a major dam in Angola. To a lesser degree, the flow is also controlled by a weir just above the falls, built to divert water into the turbines of the 320-megawatt underground hydro-electric power plant stationed on the border.

If you are planning to head into the Kaokoveld from here, Ruacana is the last place to buy fuel before Opuwo (for more information, click here).

The Kavango region

Bordering Ovamboland to the northeast lies the lushly wooded and well-watered Kavango area.

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