The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The ci ...

and

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

in central

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 ...

, through

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

, to

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

province in South Africa. It initially cost approximately 850 million Namibian dollars (US$115 million) and was officially opened in 1998. The corridor also includes railway lines from Walvis Bay as far as

Gobabis , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = Ex Oriente Lux , image_skyline = Gobabis Namibia aerial.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imag ...

in Namibia, and from Johannesburg as far as

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is an ...

in Botswana. Connecting the two railway lines has been discussed since 2010, and an agreement between the two countries was signed in 2014, but the project has since become economically unfeasible. The

Maputo Corridor The Maputo Corridor is a major trade corridor which connects the Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa with Maputo, which is a port and the capital of Mozambique. The corridor comprises roads - including the N4 toll road (from ...

provides an onwards connection from Gauteng to

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,0 ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Together these corridors form a unique road connection between

on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and

on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

; the connected regions are also known as the Walvis Bay–Botswana–Gauteng–Maputo development corridor.

Route

The route Walvis Bay–Windhoek–Lobatse–Pretoria–Maputo is route number 40 in the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...

Regional Trunk Road Network. The corridor begins in the coastal town of

, heading northwards as the B2 road to the coastal town of

Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...

(a distance of 35 km), where it turns eastwards. It heads eastwards from Swakopmund, through

Karibib , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , motto = , image_skyline =Karibib aerial view.jpg , imagesize =300 , image_caption =Karibib aerial view 2017 , image_flag = , ...

, to the town of

Okahandja Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the ''Garden Town of Namibia''. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the ...

(a distance of 290 km), where it reaches a junction with the B1 road. At this junction, the B2 ends and the corridor becomes the B1 southwards. The entire section from Walvis Bay to Okahandja is shared with the

Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Road The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Road (previously ''Trans-Caprivi Corridor'' and until 2004 ''Trans-Caprivi-Highway'', accessed on 27 August 2014.) runs from Walvis Bay, through Rundu in north eastern Namibia, along the Caprivi Str ...

(Trans-Caprivi Corridor). From Okahandja, it heads southwards as the

A1 road A list of roads designated A1, sorted by alphabetical order of country. * A01 highway (Afghanistan), a long ring road or beltway connecting Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar * A1 motorway (Albania), connecting Durrës and Kukës * A001 highwa ...

(that is the freeway section of the B1 road) for 70 km to the city of

(capital of

) where it reaches a junction with the B6 road. At this junction, the corridor becomes the B6 eastwards. The section from Okahandja to Windhoek is shared with the

Tripoli–Cape Town Highway The Tripoli–Cape Town Highway or TAH 3 is Trans-African Highway 3 in the transcontinental road network being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the African Union. The ...

. From Windhoek, the corridor heads eastwards as the B6 for 315 km, through

Gobabis , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = Ex Oriente Lux , image_skyline = Gobabis Namibia aerial.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imag ...

, to the border town of

Buitepos Buitepos ( af, outpost) is a small settlement in the Omaheke Region in eastern Namibia. It is situated on the national road B6 which is part of the Trans-Kalahari Highway, and a border post between Namibia and Botswana Botswana (, ), o ...

, where it crosses the national boundary in an easterly direction to enter

and become the A2 road. From Buitepos, the corridor heads east-south-east as the A2 for 750 km, through

Jwaneng Jwaneng is a town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The ...

, to the border town of

. Immediately after Lobatse, at

Skilpadshek Skilpadshek (Afrikaans for ''tortoise gate'') is a border checkpoint on the South African border with Botswana, located north-west of Zeerust in North West province. The corresponding checkpoint on the Botswana side of the border is called Pionee ...

, the corridor crosses the national boundary in an easterly direction to enter

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 coun ...

and become the N4 road (

Platinum Highway The Platinum Highway is part of the N4, and a major South African highway built under concessions with a private contractor. In 2001, the project was voted Infrastructure Deal of the Year by Project Finance International Magazine. It took eight ye ...

). From Skilpadshek, the corridor heads eastwards as the N4 for 285 km, through

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a city at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West province, South Africa (549,575 in 2011 and 626,522 in the 2016 census). In 20 ...

, to

(Tshwane; Capital of

), where the Trans-Kalahari Corridor ends at an interchange with the N1 road. The N4 then continues eastwards from Pretoria to reach the

border at

Komatipoort Komatipoort is a town situated at the confluence of the Crocodile and Komati Rivers in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is 8 km from the Crocodile Bridge Gate into the Kruger Park, and just 5 km from the Mozambique border a ...

(a distance of 415 km), as part of the

, completing the route from Walvis Bay to Maputo.

References

{{Authority control Roads in Botswana Roads in Namibia Roads in South Africa International road networks