Trekkopje is a mountain in the

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, north-east of

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

on the road to

Usakos Usakos (, ) is a town on the banks of river Khan River, Khan, 140 kilometres north-east of Swakopmund in the Erongo Region of Namibia. It is located on the B2 road (Namibia), B2 (part of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor), the main road between the ...

History

The Swakopmund–

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, which ...

railway line goes past the mountain. When the Swakopmund-Windhoek line was converted from to in 1910, a patch of railway west of

Karibib Karibib () is a town in the Erongo Region of western Namibia. It has 8,434 inhabitants. Karibib is the district capital of the Karibib Constituency, Karibib electoral constituency. It is situated on the Khan River, halfway between Windhoek and S ...

was not completed, and passengers and load had to be moved twice, in Karibib and at Trekkopje. Today the railway station no longer stands, and the railway stop is not in use anymore, either. Trekkopje was the site of the Battle of Trekkopjes, a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

battle aimed at preventing South African troops from rebuilding the railway line. A war cemetery, ''Trekkopje Cemetery'' () features 16 graves of railway protection troops from this battle.

Trekkopje mine

Trekkopje mine The Trekkopje mine is a shallow open pit mine which has been under care and maintenance since 2012. It is located at Trekkopje in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region. Trekkopje represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Namibia, ...

, a currently unused Uranium mine of the French company

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

(now

Orano Orano SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational nuclear fuel cycle corporation headquartered in Châtillon, Hauts-de-Seine. The company is engaged in uranium mining, conversion-enrichment, Nuclear reprocessing, spent fuel recycling ...

) is situated about north of the mountain. Trekkopje desalination plant is in turn named after the mine, as it was built to provide the mine with water. The desalination plant is situated at the Atlantic coast near Wlotzkasbaken.

References

Erongo Region Railway stations in Namibia {{Namibia-geo-stub