Hoba Meteorite

The Hoba meteorite is a slab of iron and nickel weighing around sixty tonnes, found by a farmer ploughing in 1920 and never moved since, which makes it both the largest meteorite and the largest naturally occurring piece of iron known on the surface of the Earth. It fell less than eighty thousand years ago and left no crater, which suggests it came in at a shallow angle. It sits in a stone amphitheatre built around it after souvenir hunters began cutting pieces off.

Background

The meteorite is named after the farm Hoba West near Grootfontein, in the Otjozondjupa Region, where it still lies. Its main mass, from which some pieces have been cut away, is estimated at more than 60 tonnes, about twice the largest fragments of the Cape York and Campo del Cielo meteorites, each about 31 tonnes, and it is made of ferronickel. Its name comes from a Khoekhoegowab word meaning gift, and after it was handed over to the state in 1987 a visitor centre with circular stone seating was built around it.

Source: Wikipedia, "Hoba meteorite"

What you'll find

• The meteorite - around sixty tonnes of iron and nickel, the largest known.
• The surface - cut marks and corrosion from a century of visitors and weathering.
• The amphitheatre - stone seating built around it for protection.
• The absence of a crater - the ground around it undisturbed, unusual for its size.

When to go

March to October is the cooler window. The site keeps daytime hours. Midday sun makes the stone amphitheatre hot with no shade.

Practical notes

It is a twenty-minute stop and there is nothing else at the site. The interpretation is minimal. Vandalism and souvenir cutting have taken visible pieces off it.

Nearby

Grootfontein is east, and Lake Otjikoto is west towards Tsumeb.

Key facts