Otjikoto Lake is the smaller of only two permanent natural lakes in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. It is a

sinkhole lake A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

that was created by a collapsing

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

cave. It is located north-west of

Tsumeb , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Glück Auf'' (German language, German for ''Good luck'') , image_skyline = Welcome to tsumeb.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption ...

and only 100 meters from the main road B1. The lake was declared a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

in 1972. The diameter of the lake is ; its depth is supposedly a maximum of 91.44 meters plus according to scans. According to a Namibian tourism information organisation, "the depth varies from sixty two meters at the side to one hundred meters in the center, and in some places leading off from the side depths of one hundred meters have been recorded", while an article in the Allgemeine Zeitung explains the depth problem: "the lake tapers into a lateral cave system making it impossible to determine its exact depth, estimated to be in access (''sic'') of 142 meters." The lake was known to the San under the name ''Gaisis'' ("ugly"). When the

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

moved into the area, they named it ''Otjikoto'' (

Otjiherero Herero (, ''Otjiherero'') is a Bantu language spoken by the Herero and Mbanderu peoples in Namibia and Botswana, as well as by small communities of people in southwestern Angola. There were 211,700 speakers in 2014. Distribution Its linguist ...

: "deep hole"). Namibia's

Oshikoto Region Oshikoto is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, named after Lake Otjikoto. Its capital is Omuthiya. The city of Tsumeb, Otjikoto's capital until 2008, and the towns of Omuthiya and Oniipa are also situated in this region. , Oshikoto had 112, ...

, in which the lake is situated, is an alternative spelling of ''Otjikoto'' and derives its name from that of the lake. The first Europeans to discover the lake were

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...

and

Carl Johan Andersson Karl John (Karl Johan) Andersson (4 March 1827 in Norra Råda Värmland, Sweden – 9 July 1867 in Angola) was a Swedish explorer, hunter and trader as well as an amateur naturalist and ornithologist. He is most famous for the many books he pub ...

, who during their search for

Lake Ngami Lake Ngami is an endorheic lake in Botswana north of the Kalahari Desert. It is seasonally filled by the Taughe River, an effluent of the Okavango River system flowing out of the western side of the Okavango Delta. It is one of the fragmented remn ...

came upon Otjikoto Lake in 1851. The lake was a dumping ground for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...

'' during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; in June 1915 German troops dumped war materials in the lake before surrendering to stop the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

troops from using them. Most of the larger pieces have been recovered and are displayed in Tsumeb Museum, but at least two cannons, along with quantities of ammunition, are still in the lake and can be viewed with a special diving permit. According to legend, the Germans also dumped a sealed safe into the lake. The search for it and the 6 million

gold marks The German mark (german: Goldmark ; sign: ℳ) was the currency of the German Empire, which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the ...

it is said to contain has as yet not been successful. Botanist

Kurt Dinter Moritz Kurt Dinter (10 June 1868 – 16 December 1945) was a German botanist and explorer in South West Africa. Education and career Dinter was born in Bautzen, where he attended the Realschule. Having completed his military service and joi ...

visited the lake in 1911 and collected several hitherto unknown species of plants, among them grass of the genus ''

Rottboellia ''Rottboellia'' (commonly called itch grass) is a genus of African, Asian, and Australian plants in the grass family. The genus was named in honour of Danish botanist Christen Friis Rottbøll (1727-1797). ; Species * ''Rottboellia cochinchin ...

''. ''

Tilapia guinasana The Otjikoto tilapia (''Tilapia guinasana'') is a critically endangered species of cichlid fish endemic to Namibia where it was originally only found in Lake Guinas. This very small sinkhole lake contains quite clear water that generally ranges ...

'', a species of

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

fish which naturally was only found in Otjikoto's sister lake,

Lake Guinas Lake Guinas is the larger of only two permanent natural lakes in Namibia. It is a ''sinkhole lake'', created by a collapsing karst cave, located thirty-eight kilometres west of Tsumeb, near the D3043 road. Lake Guinas is home to '' Tilapia guinasa ...

, was introduced to Otjikoto Lake. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Red List of Threatened Species: Tilapia guinasana The claim that Lake Guinas is connected to Lake Otjikoto by caves is frequently made but not proven as yet. Otjikotosee

References

External links

Namibia: The Cardboard Box Travel shop
{{Authority control Lakes of Namibia Tsumeb Sinkholes of Africa National Monuments of Namibia Karst lakes