Otavi/Tsumeb

Tsumeb is located in the so-called “Otavi Triangle”, which refers to the area between the towns of Tsumeb, Otavi in the southwest and Grootfontein in the southeast. The Otavi Triangle receives relatively high rainfall, so that agriculture, such as corn, cotton and sunflowers can be harvested in this region.

The Tsumeb Museum was founded in 1976 by Ilse Schatz, a dedicated and knowledgeable farmer’s wife

The museum is located in the main street of the mining town Tsumeb. The museum owns and exhibits an extensive mineral collection and provides extensive information about mining in Tsumeb and the history of the city, . 25 Kilometers northwest of Tsumeb is Lake Otjikoto, around which many stories and myths are entwined. The lake has a diameter of only 100 meters and – together with the nearby Guinas Lake – is the only natural underground lake in Namibia. Otjikoto Lake has an extreme depth of 120 meters. It is actually a collapsed cave that leads obliquely into the depths. In July 1915, the German Schutztruppe sank its last cannons and rifles in the lake before surrendering to the overpowering South African troops. Some of these guns were recovered from the lake at the end of the 80s and carefully restored and are now exhibited in the Tsumeb Museum