Otjikoto Lake
| Otjikoto Lake | ||
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| Panorama Otjikoto Lake | ||
| Geographical location | Namibia | |
| Location close to the shore | Tsumeb | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 19 ° 11 ′ 41 ″ S , 17 ° 32 ′ 59 ″ E | |
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| surface | 7075 square meters | |
| Maximum depth | 76 m | |
The Otjikotosee is a karst lake in northern Namibia , near the mining town of Tsumeb . He is one of only two ever-filled with water lakes of Namibia and the Zwillingssee 15 km away Lake Guinas . The assumption that it is connected to this via an as yet unexplored subterranean cave water system has not yet been proven.
The Otjikotosee was discovered in 1851 by Charles John Andersson and Francis Galton and has a size of approximately 100 × 150 meters. Otjikoto means deep hole in the Herero language ; In fact, the lake is a sinkhole about 76 meters deep, filled with water , whereby it is supposed to have a connection to a largely unexplored underground canal system, which is supposed to reach various water points in the Etosha National Park .
During the First World War, the German Schutztruppe sank weapons and ammunition in this lake in order not to leave them to the enemy. The Otjikotosee has been a national monument in Namibia since 1955 .
A subspecies of the brass mouthbrooder ( Pseudocrenilabrus philander dispersus ) occurs in Lake Otjikoto , the cichlid species Tilapia guinasana and the swordtail ( Xiphophorus hellerii ) , which were originally only endemic to Lake Guinea . The last two fish species were released there by humans.
Otjikoto Lake
Photo taken before 1910
Military heritage from the German colonial era on Lake Otjikoto
literature
- Siegfried Agenbag: The Otjikotosee. History and mystery. Namibia Scientific Society , Windhoek 2004, ISBN 978-3-936858-54-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lake Otjikoto
- ^ John Irish: Conservation aspects of karst waters in Namibia . In: Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism (Ed.): Madoqua . 17, No. 2, 1991, ISSN 1011-5498 , pp. 141-146.Retrieved December 1, 2009.
- ↑ Tilapia guinasana on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ Xiphophorus hellerii on Fishbase.org (English)