Okatana is an ephemeral river in the north of

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 forms part of the

Cuvelai basin The Cuvelai-Etosha Basin is a transboundary wetland area shared by Angola and Namibia extending over 450 kilometres from north to south. Covering almost 160,000 km2, the widest point of the basin is along the Angola-Namibia border from the Ku ...

. It has two channels, one running through

Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places. Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...

, serving as the boundary between the constituencies of

Oshakati West Oshakati West is an electoral constituency in the Oshana Region of Namibia. It contains the western parts of the town of Oshakati. The Okatana River separates Oshakati West from the Oshakati East constituency. The constituency had 20,015 inhabita ...

and

Oshakati East Oshakati East is an electoral constituency in the Oshana Region of Namibia. It comprises the eastern parts of the town of Oshakati. The Okatana River separates Oshakati East from the Oshakati West constituency. The constituency had 22,634 inha ...

; the other running east of town. The two channels rejoin south of Oshakati, and the river flows into the

Etosha pan The Etosha Pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin in the north of Namibia. It is a hollow in the ground in which water may collect or in which a deposit of salt remains after water has evaporated. The 120-kilo ...

. The river provides a source of water to people who leave nearby the river and food during rainy season. During rainy season it affects the community economically, socially and educationally. The ways are cut off; schools are closed due to this river. This is always made difficult for the students and teachers to close this river.

References

Rivers of Namibia Oshakati {{Namibia-river-stub