Okiep

Okiep Tourism Information Bureau

Okiep Business Directory

Derived from the Nama word “U-gieb”, meaning “the great, brackish spring”, Okiep was, until production ceased in 1918, the world’s richest copper mine. Okiep echoes the copper boom years, being the oldest mining town in South Africa where copper was first discovered and mined in 1855.

During the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) Fort Shelton, on the road between Okiep and Concordia, was the main fortification of the Home Guard during the siege of Okiep from 1 April to 23 May 1902. Nine-hundred defenders, mostly Cape Copper Company employees, built nine blockhouses and repulsed General Jan Smuts’s forces in concerted efforts to take the town. Today only the remnants of stone walls remain.

The remains of the Crow’s Nest Blockhouse on a hill north east of Okiep, fell to the Boers during the war and it was occupied by them for most of the siege before being retaken. Fort Shelton saw the major part of the action during the siege and was manned by a 6-pounder gun.

Graffiti made by the Cape Town Highlanders and Cape Garrison Artillery can still be seen in the Okiep East Mine, and casualties from the war were laid to rest in the Okiep graveyard.

The “Cornish Pump House” houses a fully intact steam engine and the only remaining pump house of its sort in the Southern Hemisphere, There were used form 1882 to pump water from the mine.
A few interesting geological sites such as the Klondike and Magabreccia sites can be seen in the surrounding area.

The “Smokestack”, a large tower built by die Cape Copper Company as a ventilation shaft in 1880, is now a national monument and can be seen someway off on approaching the town.

Okiep Accommodation & Leisure Activities

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Okiep Tourism Attractions:

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Okiep Education:

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Okiep Business Directory:

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