Seeheim (Namibia)

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The Seeheim Hotel (2012)

Seeheim is a small settlement on the Fish River in southern Namibia , 35 kilometers southwest of Keetmanshoop on the B4 national road to Lüderitz .

history

Seeheim was in 1896 as a base for the protection force established and the mountains on Schlangkopf were theater of war in Namakrieg of 1906. Northeast of Seeheim is the 1894 also built by the colonial force Fort Naiams , today only a ruin, but as a cultural monument is classified.

During the construction of the Lüderitz Railway, the German Colonial Railway Construction and Operating Company reached the place in 1907 and built the Fish River Bridge , the first railway bridge over the Fish River. A year later, Seeheim became a "railway junction" when the branch line to Kalkfontein- Süd was opened, which was connected to the local railway network from the South African side during the First World War . At the time of the diamond fever in German South West Africa, Seeheim mainly consisted of two hotels , as travelers from Windhoek to Lüderitz had to spend the night here to wait for the connecting train. During the 1940s and 1950s the place grew into a sizable parish with churches and schools, but gradually became orphaned afterwards. When the B4 national road got a new route in 1974 and no longer ran directly through Seeheim, the Seeheim Hotel was the last company in the village.

Seeheim today

Seeheim Namibia (October 2018)
(fire damage to the hotel clearly visible)

The Seeheim Hotel was reopened in 2004, and the hoteliers also run a small cabinet maker. On June 10, 2018, the hotel was badly damaged by arson.

There is no passenger traffic on the railway line to Lüderitz. The line between Aus and Lüderitz was rebuilt between 2001 and 2014. The Shongololo Express passes Seeheim sporadically.

Picture gallery

  • The Schlangkopf near Seeheim (between 1906 and 1918)

  • Fish river near Seeheim (between 1906 and 1918)

  • Fish river near Seeheim (between 1906 and 1918)

  • Steam locomotive DSWA 2-8-0T No. 11 at the opening of the Lüderitzbahn in Seeheim (around 1908)

  • Railway bridge over the Fish River near Seeheim (2018)

Web links

Commons : Seeheim  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of Klaus Dierks . Klaus Dierks. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  2. ↑ History of the Seeheim Hotel (English) ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.seeheim.co.za
  3. ^ Namibiana: Arson in the Seeheim Hotel Keetmanshoop

Coordinates: 26 ° 49 ′  S , 17 ° 48 ′  E