Maltahöhe is a village in southern central Namibia close to the Swartrand escarpment, about 110 km west of Mariental in the Hardap Region. It has about 6,000 inhabitants and owns about 17,000 hectares of land. Maltahöhe has two suburbs, the Andreville location and the Blikkiesdorp (literally Afrikaans: Tin Town) informal settlement which has neither sewerage nor electricity supply.
History
Maltahöhe got its name from the German Hauptmann Henning von Burgsdorf who
supervised a police station of the Imperial German colonial administration
here in 1895. He named the place after his wife Malta.
After the end of the German colonial era in South-West Africa the settlement
became a small hub for tourism, serving as gateway to popular destinations
like the Sossusvlei, Solitaire, Sesriem, and
Duwisib Castle.
The Maltahöhe Hotel was founded in 1907 and is the oldest country hotel in
Namibia.
Business and development
Maltahöhe has been in steady decline for a number of decades. There is no
retail store in town; the last one stopped business before 1980. Until after
the year 2000 Maltahöhe used to have town status. Due to mismanagement and
infighting between councillors it was downgraded to "village". Since then
many businesspeople have left and unemployment has risen. There is no Senior
Secondary School.
The town also used to be a centre for karakul sheep farming, but this branch
of agriculture has likewise been shrinking. Unemployment is high with only
about 500 residents in possession of some sort of job. Alcohol abuse is
common, particularly in the suburbs.
The small town of Maltahohe, situated on the edge of the Namib Desert, was founded in 1900 and owes its name to Malta von Burgsdorf, wife of the German commander of the Gibeon garrison. The town was once an important agricultural center, the nearby farm Nomtsas was established as a sheep farm of some 100,000 ha by the turn of the century. Later, Maltahohe became the center of the karakul trade. The area around the town is spectacular, encompassing the Tsaris, Namgorab and Nubub mountain ranges that border the central highland plateau.
| Related links | Maps | Accommodation in the area | Activities in the area | ||||
| Hotels | Pensions | B&Bs | Lodges | Camping & others | |||
| Windhoek | General map | Atelier du Desert | - | - | Namib Desert Lodge | Oahera Center | Nature drives |
| Mariental | Regions | Maltahohe Hotel | - | - | Hammerstein Lodge & Camp | Farm Wildpark | Wild cat tours |
| Photo galleries | - | - | - | - | Tsondab Valley Desert Farm | Little Sossus Lodge | Night & game drives |
| Duwisib Castle | - | - | - | - | Tolou's Lodge | Haruchas Guest Farm | Car rental |
| Gibeon meteorite shower | - | - | - | - | Namseb Game Lodge | Farm Duwisib Rest Camp | Balloon trips |
| Desert Express | - | - | - | - | - | Betta Camp Site | - |
| Resorts in National parks | - | - | - | - | - | Burgsdorf Guest Farm | - |
| Namib Naukluft National Park | - | - | - | - | - | Nubib Nature Camp | - |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | Ababis Guest Farm | - |
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