Wlotzkasbaken

Wlotzkasbaken, usually only briefly Wlotzka, is a small settlement in Namibia. Wlotzkasbaken is situated in the coastal Namib Desert on the Atlantic Ocean, 33 kilometers north of Swakopmund and 37 kilometers south of Hentiesbaai away.

It is currently permanently inhabited by only 6 inhabitants ( 2010), which is why it is a typical holiday resort in Wlotzkasbaken. In total there are 106 private houses (2010).

History

Wlotzkasbaken was according to tradition, by Paul Wlotzka, a Prussian coachman named. Wlotzka was a member of a reconnaissance teams. After the surrender stationed in what was then German Southwest Africa German troops during the First World War, this scouting party should survey the coastal strip north of Walvis Bay in 1915.

Wlotzka was already well acquainted with this region, so that he was hired as a guidebook and charioteer of a horse cart, on which the equipment and food of the South African surveyors was carried.

In the following years Wlotzka rose to become a successful businessman, he supplied by the various measurement stations between Walvis Bay and Cape Cross with food and other needed goods there.

To make work easier Wlotzka built on site of the present Wlotzkasbaken, one of the survey beacons between Swakopmund and the mouth of the Omaruru infirmary (today Hentiesbaai ), a small barn adobe, stored in the water and hay for horses was.

Wlotzka, has always been a passionate angler who soon recognized the abundance of fish of the ocean in the vicinity of today's Wlotzkasbaken. He therefore soon went over to a part of the of locally caught fish in Swakopmund for sale. Soon curiosity drove the other fishermen on the Wlotzka vaunted place by the sea. Later, it did the first time camper down of the holiday at the beacon selected Wlotzka. The result was a first provisional branch, initially only for the holiday season, which was called by their temporary residents Wlotzkasbaken.

From the former tents and barracks permanent homes have become as wood or cement today. However Wlotzkasbaken has remained relatively deserted and only during the holiday season stirs some life.

Economy and infrastructure

As typical holiday resort, tourism is for the continued existence of Wlotzkasbaken of vital importance. Outside the holiday season affects Wlotzkasbaken like a ghost town, since there hardly any people are then to be found. Wlotzkasbaken is not connected to this day the national electricity supply to Namibia, so that the few permanent and temporary residents to meet their electricity needs with the help of generators and solar panels. The water is supplied to this day, among other things by tankers, despite the fact that a seawater desalination plant was put into operation.

Wlotzkasbaken located in the Namibian Erongo Region. Swakopmund (33 kilometers south ) and Hentiesbaai ( 37 km north ) can be reached via the Namibian highway C -34. Windhoek, the Namibian capital, is about 270 kilometers away. All of these regional or national centers are accessible by paved roads.

Culture and sights

Every year between Christmas and New Year, the festival " torture stake ", including a fishing contest and Enduro in Wlotzkasbaken place and always attracts thousands of visitors, which the settlement can be a very lively each time for a short time. Wlotzkasbaken applicable in Namibia and beyond as a fishing paradise.

Another special feature of Wlotzkasbaken is the fact that to date property boundaries are marked in many cases by whale bones.

Two tall water towers for drinking water storage can be considered as the landmark, visible Wlotzkasbakens. Almost all the houses of the settlement are brightly painted in bright colors, which is another attraction for tourists passing through.

Recent Developments

The Namibian government intends to present ( 2011) to transform Wlotzkasbaken by progressive housing and by promoting the influx of mainly colored Namibians in a real city.

The tourist value of the area is intended to remain intact. However, the other land acquisition in Wlotzkasbaken was dismissed by the state of the country's Supreme Court initially.

2010, the first seawater desalination plant in Africa was in Wlotzkasbaken taken in sub-Saharan operations, primarily to the water supply of a situated in the desert uranium mine ( " Trekkopje Mine" ) to ensure that is to be operated in the future by the French Areva group. The plant will produce 20 million cubic meters of drinking water a year. The " Trekkopje Mine" will consume around 65 % of the drinking water produced, while the remainder is sold to the national water utility NamWater.

In October 2012, Areva announced that the launch of Trekkopje mine must be moved because of current transactions and loss due to a currently falling nascent uranium price to an expected early 2014. But still, the seawater desalination plant of Wlotzkasbaken is to be operated at full capacity until further notice.

In August 2012, the Government of Namibia and Swakopmund between Wlotzkasbaken presented a 700 -acre area to establish a since April 2011 planned by the group of companies Gecko Namibia industrial parks available. There will be built a chemical plant, which then supplies the mining industry in the region with chemicals. In addition, give rise to the more seawater desalination plant as well as a small power plant to supply power to the mining industry. Because Gecko Namibia but in the future also plans to cut phosphate from the seabed, critical voices piled on the planned industrial parks, so that the project can not be implemented until now, when a positive environmental impact study exists. According to experts, this could take several years.