Huab

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Huab
Desert elephants in the Huab
Data
location	Namibia
River system	Huab
muzzle	in the Atlantic Coordinates: 20 ° 55 ′ 4 ″  S , 13 ° 27 ′ 23 ″  E 20 ° 55 ′ 4 ″  S , 13 ° 27 ′ 23 ″  E
length	300 km
Catchment area	16,465.695 km²

The Huab is a 300 kilometer long ephemeral dry river ( Rivier ) in the former Damaraland in western Namibia .

Hydrology

The catchment area of the Huab stretches from the Atlantic coast eastward over the southern Grootberg to 50 km behind Kamanjab in the north and south to about 20 km south of Fransfontein and Khorixas and covers 16,465.695 km². The highest point of the catchment area is about 1600 m. The annual rainfall is irregular and varies from 0 mm on the coast to 350 mm in the eastern catchment area, with only about 13% of the area experiencing an annual rainfall of over 300 mm. In 80% of the catchment area, the amount of precipitation is less than 100 mm / a. In particular in the lower reaches and in the mouth area of ​​the Huab there are groundwater outlets and larger wetlands . The most important tributary is the Aba-Huab , but its drainage is intercepted in the upper reaches by numerous farm dams, so that the Huab rarely reaches the mouth.

Vegetation and fauna

80% of the Huab catchment area belongs to the Mopane savannah type of vegetation , 20% is in the central Namib area . The gallery forests and wetlands consist mainly of anabaum ( Faidherbia albida ), tamarisk ( Tamarix ), camel thorn ( Acacia erioloba ), slavadora , mopane ( Colophospermum mopane ), leadwood ( Combretum imberbe ) as well as Cyperus , Phragmites and Euclea . This lush vegetation in the otherwise arid Namib represents an important basis for the wildlife population in the Namib. In addition to numerous antelope species , elephants and lions can also be found at the watering holes.

Use and settlement

36% of the Huab catchment area is spread over 95 commercial and private farms east of Khorixas and Fransfontein , where annual rainfall is over 300mm. 62% of the catchment area is communal land , while the remaining 2% is in the area of ​​the Skeleton Coast Park . While the eastern part of the basin provides acceptable conditions for agriculture, arid climate in the lower regions of Huab permitted only transhumance . The commercial farms and the dams in the area of ​​the Aba-Huab, the increasing water consumption in the eastern Huab Valley and in Khorixas as well as the increased grazing pressure have led to a drop in the water table in the lower reaches and to the drying of numerous springs. This decline is increasingly endangering the desert elephant population , for which the Huab, together with the other rivers, forms the basis of life.

literature

• Mary Seely, Kathryn M. Jacobson, Peter J. Jacobson: Ephemeral Rivers and Their Catchments - Sustaining People and Development in Western Namibia . Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, 1995, ISBN 978-99916-709-4-2
• Klaus Hüser, Helga Besler, Wolf Dieter Blümel, Klaus Heine, Hartmut Leser, Uwe Rust : Namibia - A Landscape Studies in Pictures . Klaus Hess, Göttingen / Windhoek 2001, ISBN 978-3-933117-14-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Namibia Travel Map . Kunth-Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-95504-578-4 .
2. ↑ Mapping the Major Cathments of Namibia. Ben Ben J. Strohbach, National Botanical Research Institute, pp. 5-6.