The Hakos Asronomical Farm
in Namibia
The Hakos Farm is run by Walter Straube and his family and is a fine place for amateur
astronomers to visit. It is about 140km South-West of Windhoek (the capital of Namibia)
at the edge of the Namib desert. You can expect good visibility and transparency with virtually no
light pollution (other than a weak distant speck in the north east) but be prepared
for windy and cold nights in winter.
The farm has a small observatory (C8 and an achromatic refractor) and the German amateur club IAS operates its own observatory on the Hakos property.
If you bring your scope, you can leave your tripod and counter weights at home since
you will be offered piers, counter weights and electric power.
This is a view from the table mountain Gamsberg (2350m), which is about 17km to the south of the farm.
There are some observatories belonging to IAS on top of the mountain which is accessible to 4-wheel wehicles
by an adventurous road.
The Hakos Farm lies in the upper left area of the picture (not visible) on 1800m elevation.
During day time you can join several (crazy) trips in the area and learn for what kind of roads 4-wheel drive
cars were made for (answer: definitely not for cites).
This is a view of the Namib-Naukluft Park covering most of the Namib desert.
Tahir Saban, Baden Austria.
e-mail tv204@yahoo.com
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