Aus

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Southern Namibia

Aus

Aus / Garub

The small village of Aus lies some 120 kilometres east of Luederitz on the National Road B4, which connects Luederitz and Keetmanshoop - one of the most scenic routes in Namibia.

West of Aus starts the Dune Namib, and this is where one can often see a group of wild horses. At the Garub waterhole a roofed observation stand has been put up by conservationists, from where one can closely view the extraordinary animals that have become adapted to the extreme desert conditions.

garub_horses

For a long time nobody could tell where the wild horses originated from. They were believed to be descendents of those from the German Schutztruppe. Another theory proposes their origins to lie in the former stud of Baron Hansheinrich von Wolf of the Farm Duwisib south of Maltahöhe. Only some years ago research has revealed that these horses' forebears were part of the South African cavalry which had set up camp in the Namib. Their horses fled into the desert panicked by shots fired from a low flying German aircraft at the beginning of World War I.

Garup was once a station on the railway line from Aus to Luederitz, completed in 1906. Because there was no drinking water in Luederitz, the water had to be transported in barrels by train from Garub to the coast, a journey of 120 kilometres. Luederitz later received its own waterpipe and in 1990 the station Garub was closed. The little station house is still standing and can be visited.

garub

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Photos: Top and left Wild horses in the Namib Desert near Garub. Bottom right the old, delapidated railway station Garub.

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