Ruacana

History

Ovazemba and Ovahimba people are native to the area. There are two theories for the origin of the name. Kaure reports that according to Ovazemba oral tradition, the name comes from a local leader named Ruhakana, while Olivier claims it is derived from , "hurrying waters". Ruacana was developed around the Ruacana Hydroelectric Power Station, a major underground hydroelectric plant linked to the nearby dam across the border in Angola at Calueque. In the early 1970s, 27 houses were built for employees of the South West Africa Water and Electricity Commission (now NamWater It was declared a settlement in 1999, granted local government as a village in 2005, and declared a town in 2010. The dam and pumping station were bombed in a Cuban airstrike in 1988, during the Angolan Civil War. The facility was partially repaired, and today NamPower operates three turbines producing a maximum of 240 megawatts.

Geography

The place receives annual average rainfall of , although in the 2010/2011 rainy season, of rain was measured.

Most-observed species

• White-tailed Shrike

  Lanioturdus torquatus Waterhouse, 1838 · Aves
  61
• Fork-tailed Drongo

  Dicrurus adsimilis (Bechstein, 1794) · Aves
  57
• Gray Go-away-bird

  Corythaixoides concolor (A.Smith, 1833) · Aves
  46
• Black-fronted Bulbul

  Pycnonotus nigricans (Vieillot, 1818) · Aves
  45
• Ring-necked Dove

  Streptopelia capicola (Sundevall, 1857) · Aves
  45
• Meves's Starling

  Lamprotornis mevesii (Wahlberg, 1856) · Aves
  41
• Cape Starling

  Lamprotornis nitens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  37
• Laughing Dove

  Spilopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  37