Places · Windhoek and centre

Rehoboth

Ten in the morning at a pump in Rehoboth, and the attendant wipes your windscreen although it is clean. Behind you a pick-up with jerrycans in the back waits its turn, also bound for the Namib.

Rehoboth lies about 90 kilometres south of Windhoek on the B1, a little over an hour on tar. Here the C24 branches off west, one of the routes to Sossusvlei. Fill up in Rehoboth if you take that road, because according to a 2021 traveller's report there is no fuel on that route until Sesriem. At the 2023 census the town had 40,788 residents.

residents, 2023 census
40,788
to Windhoek on the B1
92 km
Basters settle here
1870
to the Oanob Dam
6 km

Heading south on the B1, Rehoboth is the first fuel stop and usually no more than that. Mariental is just under 180 kilometres further on. If you do stay, the accommodation feed lists the Thitaka River Lodge and the Tismaree Guestfarm, among others.

The Baster town

Rehoboth is the town of the Basters. They left the Cape Colony in 1868, and on 23 September 1870 they were allowed to settle here. There were 333 of them then, around 1,500 by 1885.

As early as 1872 they gave themselves a constitution, the Paternal Laws. In 1885 their Kaptein, Hermanus van Wyk, signed a treaty of protection with the German Empire. The land around the town is still called the Rehoboth Gebiet.

The mission station is older. In 1845 the missionary Heinrich Kleinschmidt of the Rhenish Mission gave it its biblical name: Rehoboth is Hebrew for broad places. Before that it was ǀAnes, the place of smoke. On cold mornings steam rises from the hot springs on the plateau.

Oanob Dam and the Tropic

About 6 kilometres from town, the Oanob Dam holds the water Rehoboth drinks. For a break by the water it is the obvious detour.

Just south of Rehoboth the B1 crosses the Tropic of Capricorn. Windhoek is still inside the tropics; here you leave them. The landscape gives no sign of it.

Today, as of Rehoboth is growing: 21,308 residents at the 2001 census, 28,834 in 2011 and 40,788 in 2023. In April 2025 the upgrade of the B1 between Rehoboth and Mariental was listed as postponed in a tender tracker.

Time needed
a fuel stop, with time for a detour to the Oanob Dam
From Windhoek
92 km, 70 minutes

Our tipIf you take the C24 to Sossusvlei, fill up in Rehoboth and carry plenty of water. Sesriem is about 250 kilometres of gravel away, and its filling station ran dry at times in 2025.

AngolaZambiaBotswanaSouth AfricaAtlanticOrangeEtosha PanWindhoekOkahandjaRehobothRehobothRehobothGobabisOmaruruUsakos and ErongoSwakopmundWalvis BayHenties Bay and Cape CrossSesriem and SossusvleiSolitaireMaltahöheMariental and KalahariKeetmanshoopAusLüderitz and KolmanskopFish River CanyonAi-AisKarasburgEtosha South (Andersson Gate)Etosha East (Von Lindequist Gate)OutjoOtjiwarongo and WaterbergTsumebOtaviGrootfonteinOshakati and OndangwaKamanjabTwyfelfonteinKhorixasSesfonteinOpuwo and KaokoveldRunduDivundu and BwabwataKatima Mulilo and Zambezi200 km
Where Rehoboth lies. Click a dot to open the place.

Places to stay in Rehoboth

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Thitaka River Lodge by NEWMARK

LodgeWindhoek and centre

Thitaka River Lodge by NEWMARK

Bwabwata East. Zambezi Region

  • Pool
  • Spa
  • Parking
  • Wi-Fi

from €785per night on 18 November 2026

Check prices on trivago

Rehoboth: frequently asked questions

When did the Basters settle in Rehoboth?

The Basters left the Cape Colony in 1868 and were allowed to settle in Rehoboth on 23 September 1870. In 1872 they adopted their own constitution, the Paternal Laws.

Should you fill up in Rehoboth?

If you drive from Rehoboth along the C24 to Sossusvlei, fill up there. According to a 2021 traveller's report there is no fuel on that route until Sesriem.

What does the name Rehoboth mean?

Rehoboth is a biblical name meaning broad places in Hebrew. The missionary Heinrich Kleinschmidt gave it to the station in 1845; before that the place was called ǀAnes, the place of smoke, after the steam from its hot springs.