NABABEEP

The Okiep Mining Museum in Nababeep

Journeying north through granite hills along the N7 from Springbok you will pass the smelter stack of the old Springbok Copper Mine and, after 8km, reach a turn-off west to the town of Nababeep.

Nababeep means "the water behind the little hill" or "the place where the giraffe drinks water" to the Nama people, after the spring at which the town was established. This is the headquarters of the Okiep Copper Company and the largest of Namaqualand's copper mining towns.

A Mining Museum charting the copper boom era - in the form of relics and photographs - is a must for the visitor. An old Narrow Gauge Steam Locomotive, named "Clara", once used on the railway to Port Nolloth to transport copper ore, coal and coke, is on display outside the museum.