Interesting Facts about Windhoek

• The Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant is internationally renowned as the first plant in the world to reclaim domestic sewage for drinking water purposes. After 32 years it continues to be the only plant in the world to do so.
• Windhoek is one of the world’s major centres for the karakul sheep-skin trade.
• Windhoek has two traditional names: Otjomuise and /Ae //Gams.
• Windhoek’s name may be derived from the word "Winterhoek", the the name of the mountains surrounding Tulbagh in South Africa.
• Windhoek was formally established on 18 October 1890.
• The first pharmacy in Windhoek, Luisen Apotheke, was opened in 1910 and still trades under the same name.
• Miss Universe was hosted in the City of Windhoek in 1992.
• Archaeological remains of an elephant kill, dated at between 5 000 and 20 000 years ago, were discovered during construction work in 1961. They can be seen in the Owela Museum on Robert Mugabe Avenue.
• In addition to the elephant bones, some quartz stone tools such as hammer stones and choppers were also discovered in Zoo Park.
• The first road to be tarred in 1928 was the main street, Kaiser Street (now Independence Avenue).
• The Alte Feste on Robert Mugabe Avenue is the oldest surviving building in Windhoek and houses part of our national museum.
• In Post Street Mall, the Gibeon Meteorite Fountain displays 31 of the original 77 meteorites on steel columns. The Gibeon meteorite shower occurred south-east of Gibeon in southern Namibia, and is the largest known shower of its kind in the world.
• In 2006, Windhoek made an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the "World’s Largest Braai".
• Windhoek has one of the oldest weather bureaus in the world. Established in 1863, it has been in uninterrupted use ever since.

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