Namaqualand
Namaqualand ( Afrikaans : Namakwaland ) is a region in South Africa and Namibia on both sides of the lower reaches of the Orange River . The southern part, Little Namaqualand , largely corresponds to the Namakwa district in the Northern Cape Province . Together with the northern Namibian Great Namaqualand, it is the main settlement area of the Nama , one of the first people to settle in southern Africa and immigrate from Central Africa. Their settlement area extends in the north to the Khomas region and is called Namaland there .
One of the main attractions of the Namaqualand is the desert bloom, which takes place annually at the end of August / beginning of September: Provided that the temperatures and rain are appropriate, within a few days a millionfold splendor of flowers unfolds from the apparently lifeless desert soil, which - especially around the city of Springbok - large parts of the Namaqualandes covers. The region is also called Succulent Karoo .
In Namaqualand, agricultural activities can only be carried out under difficult conditions due to the drought. After 1920 some artesian groundwater resources became known. Some of these water sources cannot be used without further treatment because of their salt content. The abundant aquifer under the dry bed of the Buffels River in its middle course, which is only water-bearing in the winter months, is an important source of drinking water. These underground water supplies were able to supply the former copper mining area around Okiep and Nababeep by means of a pump through a 27-kilometer pipeline . A small irrigation field economy could therefore develop in this valley section.
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Desert bloom
Goegap
Desert bloom
Desert bloom
The Richtersveld National Park and the World Heritage Site of the Richtersveld Cultural Landscape are located in Namaqualand .
literature
- Richard M Cowling, Karen J. Esler, Philip W. Rundel: Namaqualand, South Africa - an overview of a unique winter-rainfall desert ecosystem. In: Plant Ecology . Volume 142, number 1-2, 1999, pp. 3-21, DOI: 10.1023 / A: 1009831308074 .
- Wolfgang Wetschnig, Ulrike Wetschnig: On the flora and vegetation of southern Africa: The Namaqualand. In: Carinthia II . 181/101. Year, Klagenfurt 1991, pp. 43–58 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
Movie
- Namaqualand. The flower garden of Africa. Documentary, Austria, 2005, 45:30 min., Book: Lynne and Philip Richardson, Martin Mészáros, directors: Lynne and Philip Richardson, music: Kurt Adametz, production: ORF , Africa Wildlife Films, BBC , WDR , NDR Naturfilm, first broadcast : May 31, 2005 on ORF, series: Universum , summary by 3sat , film images by Kurt Adametz.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Traugott Molter: Water balance and irrigation agriculture in the Cape . Franz Steiner Verlag , Wiesbaden 1966, p. 152.
- ^ Molter: water balance . 1966, pp. 34, 78.