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Aussenkehr

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Country
  
Namibia

Constituency
  
Karasburg Constituency

Local time
  
Thursday 4:30 PM

Region
  
ǁKaras Region

Established
  
1988

Aussenkehr

Time zone
  
South African Standard Time (UTC+1)

Weather
  
39°C, Wind SW at 31 km/h, 16% Humidity

Aussenkehr (German: Outer bend, referring to the flow of the Orange at this location) is a farm on the banks of the Orange River in the south of Namibia hard on the border with South Africa. Aussenkehr falls within the Karasburg Constituency of the ǁKaras Region and is situated 24 kilometres (15 mi) downstream (northwest) of Noordoewer. Aussenkehr was established as a farm in 1910 when an Imperial German investment corporation acquired the land and started several irrigation projects. Over time, Aussenkehr has evolved into a large settlement accommodating workers employed nearby. Estimations of how many people live here vary between 7,000 and almost 30,000.

Map of Aussenkehr, Namibia

The settlement features a government clinic and a primary school. It is planned to develop Aussenkehr into a town. 6,000 erven have been surveyed and water and sewerage systems have been built but the construction of houses on the delineated plots has not yet started. Many residents have no access to safe drinking water and sanitation and use the river both as water supply and a toilet. Living conditions in the settlement have been described as "appalling".

Yugoslav Dusan Vasiljevic bought the farm Aussenkehr in 1988 to develop grape production, after a previous, similar project had failed. There is less than 50 millimetres (2.0 in) average annual rainfall but the farm includes 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) of riverfront and has a government-approved quota to draw water for irrigation from the Orange River. The Norotshama River Resort is located on the farm as a tourism venture.

The extreme climatic conditions—summer temperatures can reach 50 °C (122 °F) in the river valley—provide the area with an advantage over other grape producers, as Aussenkehr's table grapes can be harvested three to five weeks earlier than elsewhere. The farm produced 1,000 tonnes (1,100 short tons) of grapes in 1991 on 150 hectares (370 acres) of irrigated land. In 2003, production increased to 12,000 tonnes (13,000 short tons). Currently there are 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) under irrigation for the purpose of grape production.

References

Aussenkehr Wikipedia