The largest town east of Windhoek is Gobabis, an important cattle-ranching centre. A monument of a bull welcomes
visitors at the entrance to the town. Gobabis is the gateway to the Trans Kalahari High- way, linking Namibia to Botswana and South Africa. The completion of this high- way resulted
in the development of several new tourist lodges in the surroundings.
Like many other towns in Namibia, Gobabis developed around a mission station established in 1856 by
Friederich Eggert of the Rhenish Missionary Society. In the latter half of the 1800s and the early 1900s several conflicts flared up between the Mbanderu and the Khauas Khoikhoi, as
well as between the settlers and the indigenous people. The Gobabis district was pro- claimed by the German authorities in February 1894 and in June the following year Gobabis was
occupied by a German garrison. While the military fort, built in 1896/7, has long since disappeared, one of the few buildings dating back to that era is the field hospital, or
Lazarette, which has been declared a national monument.
Of special interest is the Gobabis Museum on the outskirts of the town, where a variety of old agricultural implements are
displayed in the grounds, as well as a collection of historic artefacts in the museum itself. |
