OKAHANDJA
Established as a Rhenish mission station in 1850 which was destroyed and reopened in 1870. A municipal council has administered it since German times. The name, of Herero origin is variously said to mean ‘place of small thorns’, ‘broad sandy flat’, ‘place of war, strife’, ‘ridge’ and ‘the small wide one’, referring to the bed of the Okahandja River which is wider than the main stream, the Swakop river. The Khoikhoi name is Keikheis, meaning ‘large sandy place’.
Railway station
• Railway station, Built during Imperial Germany’s colonial period in 1902. Situated on the Windhoek – Swakopmund line which was built between 1897 and 1902
Rhenish Church and cemetery
• Rhenish Church and cemetery, Heroes St – This church was consecrated in 1876 by missionary Ph Diehl, of the Rhenish Mission Society. It was used until 1952. the oldest building in Okahandja. The church was declared a National Heritage Monument on 20 December 1975.
Cemetery behind old church
• Cemetery behind old church – Here missionaries, German Soldiers and Christian Hereros were buried. Prominent Herero is Wilhelm Maharero who was favoured to succeed his father as leader of the Herero. He was killed in a skirmish with Jan Jonker Afrikaner’s men on 11 December 1880. Another leader buried here was Nikodemus Kavekunua. The cemetery together with the church were declared a national monument on 20 December 1975.
Rhenish mission dwelling house site
• Rhenish mission dwelling house site, Heroes St – on this site the first mission house stood here. It was destroyed in battle on 23 August 1850. A German Evangelical Lutheran church (Friedenskirche or Church of Peace) was built on this site in 1952.
Grave Jan Jonker Afrikaner
• Grave Jan Jonker Afrikaner, Heroes St – In this little cemetery are some graves are of Herero royals. Jonker Afrikaner was the leader of the Oorlam (called bastards) people who hailed from the Cape. He managed to get the Nama and Oorlam nations to join forces. Their headquarters were Windhoek. He tried to enlarge his territory to the north. He contracted an inflammation and died on 18 August 1861.The grave of Jonker Afrikaner was proclaimed a National Monument on 16 January 1950, the first in Namibia.
German fort
• German fort– Dated 1894
Old Tobacco station
• Old Tobacco station- This experimental tobacco station was started up in 1906. Hoped to capitalize on planting tobacco but operations have seized.
Moordkoppie (Murder Hill)
• Moordkoppie (Murder Hill), B2 Rd – This was the scene of the Herero massacre. A battle took place on 23 August 1850 when about 700 followers of the Herero chief, Kahitjene were murdered by the Namas under Jonker Afrikaner. The skirmish also caused the destruction of a major part of the mission station. Kahitjene was threatening Jonker Afrikaner’s position in Nama territories. This hillock was proclaimed a national monument on 28 July 1972.
Ovikokorero Memorial
Ovikokorero Memorial – just outside Okahandja –
The Ovikokorero War Memorial is located on Farm Harmonie. It has been a National Monument of Namibia since March 19, 1979.
Surrounded by four graves, it commemorates 26 German soldiers who fell here on March 13, 1904, during the Battle of Ovikokorero in battle with the Hereros.
Okaharui Memorial
The Okaharui Memorial was erected circa 1913 in honour of the 32 German soldiers who died here on 3 April 1904 in a battle against thr Hereros. They were buried in a mass grave on the site.
MOTH memorial
MOTH - Memorial 1904 - 1985