Abbabis

Abbabis is a disused railway station southwest of Karibib in the Erongo Region of western Namibia on the 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) dismantled narrow gauge Swakopmund–Windhoek railway line established in 1900.[1][2] When this line was converted to 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) from 1910 onwards, it lo longer passed Abbabis.[3]

Ababis station
Abbabis station
Former convalescent home

The etymology of the station is not clear: Either it is from the Khoikhoi language for 'red spot',[4] or from Nama language abas for 'gourd', as in the case of a farm approximately 300 km (200 miles) further south.[5]

Near to the station was a German convalescent home (Genesungsheim), in which the soldiers of the imperial protection force (Schutztruppen) could recover. A ruin of its office building is still visible on a paddock. The soldiers camped in tents and barracks.[6][7] The rails have long been lifted. The station building has been extended at its front and rear. It is now used as a private residence. The water supply is still from the old well.[6]

References
  1. Martin Wollmann: DSWA Staatsbahn Karte (German).
  2. Namibia Railways – SL 61: Passenger Stations & Stops, version of 27 October 2007, §9 State Northern Rly (SNR), p. 2.
  3. Dierks, Klaus. "The Development of the Namibian Railway Network. The Rail History Until the 1990s". www.klausdierks.com. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  4. Peter Edmund Raper: New Dictionary of South African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg & Cape Town, 2004.
  5. Walter Moritz: Aus den alten Tagen in Südwest: Ababis, Erlebnisse eines Albert Voigts (German).
  6. Martin Wollmann: Die Staatsbahn Swakopmund-Windhuk, Bahnhof Abbabis, km 165,65 (German, with many historic and modern photos).
  7. Erich von Salzmann: Im Kampfe gegen die Herero. Рипол Классик, 1905 (German).


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