Namakwalaand is a geographic region that extends from the Namib desert in the west, to Windhoek in the east, and covers two South African provinces.
Before German occupation, the Nama people inhabited a region in Namibia that includes South Africa and is divided by a river into small strips called Little Namaqualand & Great Namaqualand.
This region has an average annual precipitation of between 50-200mm, with some spots having as much as 8 inches (200 mm) a year.
The South African portion of Namaqualand lies in the Northern Cape province. Its chief town is Springbok. From 1908 most of the western part of Namaqualand in Namibia was marked off as Sperrgebiet (German: “Prohibited Area”), which could not be entered without a pass.
The Sperrgebiet is known for its unique flora & the mining of diamonds, which is strictly controlled when they’re in these parts of the area. It’s also one of the richest diamond-mine areas in Africa.
The government of Namibia announced plans to open vast amounts of land and establish it as a national park in 2004. In 2009, the Sperrgebiet National Park opened up.
