Old Lime Oven (Holhoog)

Lovely landmark. Great to see some historical items en route this road. Oven still in good condition. Worth a stop.

On your way to the Fish river Canyon on the C12 one cannot miss it an Old Lime Oven near the Holoog train station. The oven is one of about ten that are still standing.

They where built in the beginning of the 20th century normally near a train line, in an area were large deposits of lime were found. Lime has been used for largely for more than 14000 years as a building material. By heating Lime in the oven burnt lime was made which then was later turned into Cement.

It was the Romans who got the lime technology right around 2000 years ago. Around the 19th century it found its way to South West Africa. Lime in it's different forms can be found nearly all over, and makes up about 7 % of the earth's crust. It is found in Lime Stone, Chalk, Marble, and Aragonite. Also in Namibia you will find a few towns with the names like Kalkrand and Kalkfontien.

One of the newer lime ovens still stands on the farm Okambongora near Grootfontein. The 73 year old Mr. Horst Baerens still remembers how his father had the Baerens Lime Works on the farm and used to make a bit of extra money from it. He is one of the few who can explain how the ovens were used in those years.

The oven on Okambongora was built in 1948. Mr. Baerens explained how it was used. First a layer of stone was laid, then a layer of wood then another layer of stone in the top part of the oven then it was lit, in the top part of the oven the temperature was the highest, the burnt lime fell to the bottom and then it was removed with a shovel after cooling down.

Normally the oven on Okambongora was used three times a year, for two months at a time. Baerens Lime Works use 3 labourers to mine the lime, 3 more to fetch wood with the Ox wagons. At the oven its self 5 labourers were used to pack the lime stone and wood plus keep the fires burning.

In the two months they would normally produce about 100 tons of material. It was then sold to the builders in Grootfontein, Swakopmund and Walvisbay. The material was then mixed with sand and water, at the building site and used for building cement or plaster. In those years it was called (monoko) which is the Otjihereo name for Mud.

Cement made from lime had a good defence against termites. And with the use of this product in Duists-Suidwes=Afrika in the beginning of the 20th around 1908 the first two stories buildings were built, which they could not build in the past. Mr. Baerens remembers that in the 50s they had only one rival manufacture of burnt lime which was in the vicinity of Usakos.

The business was closed down in 1960 after 12 years of production, due to the erosion of the ovens from the high temperatures. Today the oven houses a family of Black Mambas, Bats and Hornets. And is nearly covered by a bougainvillea.

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