Omaheke Region
Omaheke's Kalahari sandveld supports cattle ranching alongside San communities, the 2024 drought exposing single-commodity vulnerability in contested rangelands.
Omaheke occupies Namibia's eastern sandveld, the Kalahari fringe where cattle ranching defines economic activity and San communities persist alongside commercial farmers. The region represents one of the 'blank spaces' on Namibia's map, vast bushland where stock farmers see cattle as wealth while wildlife roams between ranches and conservancies.
The 2024 drought caused cattle mortality and poor grazing conditions throughout Omaheke, the stress on pastoral livelihoods testing the carrying capacity that semi-arid environments provide. Land rights tensions arise as farmers from other regions enter with cattle, grazing and fencing illegally in areas where boundaries remain contested and enforcement limited.
The region's economy needs diversification beyond cattle, the vulnerability that single-commodity dependence creates exposed by drought frequency. Whether Omaheke can develop alternative livelihoods—or whether cattle ranching continues despite diminishing viability—depends on investment and adaptation that poverty constrains. The conversion of beef farms into game and tourism operations elsewhere in Namibia suggests one diversification path, but Omaheke's remoteness limits tourism potential.