The Hoba meteorite lies on Hoba West farm, about 20 kilometres west of Grootfontein. It is considered the largest known meteorite on Earth and the largest piece of iron lying naturally on the planet's surface. Nobody has ever moved it. It still sits where, by current estimates, it landed less than 80,000 years ago.
- weight, 50 to over 60 depending on the source
- about 60 t
- surface, just under a metre thick
- 2.7 × 2.7 m
- national monument
- 1955
- from Grootfontein by route planner
- 23 km
The block is almost pure metal. German Wikipedia gives 82 per cent iron and English Wikipedia 84, both with 16 per cent nickel and a little cobalt. Its high nickel content makes it an ataxite. So why is there no crater? The atmosphere probably slowed it right down, to about 2.75 kilometres a second. It stayed in one piece and threw up hardly any earth.
At the entrance there is a small ticket office with a shop. A paved path leads to the meteorite, which lies in an excavated hollow ringed by stone benches. There are toilets and braai sites as well. The state heritage council's fee schedule lists Hoba only as a guided visit, so the guide is included in the entry fee.
Found by a plough
The usual story goes like this: in 1920 a farmer was ploughing his field behind an ox when the plough caught on something with a metallic scrape. English Wikipedia names the landowner as Jacobus Hermanus Brits. The British mineralogist Leonard James Spencer, who measured the block himself in September 1929, wrote something different in 1932. He did not know the date of the find, probably late 1920, and named Michael H. Hanssen as the man then living on the farm.
The earliest record Spencer found was a letter from the South West Africa Company dated 26 May 1921, in which the writer estimated 60 tonnes and considered getting at the nickel with a saw and a cutting torch. Nothing came of it. Meteorites in South West Africa belonged to the state. In the years that followed, weights of anything from 40 to 100 tonnes did the rounds. Spencer measured 295 by 284 centimetres, a little over a metre thick at one end and barely half a metre at the other, and arrived at about 60 tonnes.
On a German map of 1910 the farm was still called Paviansfontein. The South West Africa Company listed it as Hoba-West, and that is where the meteorite gets its name.
Protected since 1955
On 15 March 1955 the South West Africa administration declared the meteorite a national monument. That did not stop everyone. Visitors chipped off pieces, and in 1968 someone illegally sawed out a 2.8-kilogram block, which was auctioned in Los Angeles in 2021. That is why the meteorite weighs less today than when it was found.
In 1987 the owner of the farm donated the meteorite and the site to the state. The visitor centre opened the same year, built by the heritage authority together with the mining company Rössing Uranium. The vandalism has stopped since then, and thousands of visitors come every year.
Getting there
From Grootfontein take the C42 towards Tsumeb and turn west just outside town. Lonely Planet, Travel News Namibia and the route planner call this road the D2859, while namibian.org wrote D2860 in 2025. Just follow the signs to the meteorite. By route planner it is 23 kilometres, almost 19 of them on the side road.
- Time needed
- about an hour on site, half a morning including the round trip from Grootfontein
- Cost
- N$ 250 per adult with guide, children aged 6 to 17 N$ 200, younger children free; unchanged in August 2025 according to namibian.org (as of October 2026)
- When
- all year; a good detour on the day before or after the drive to Rundu
Our tipAfter the meteorite, drive back to Grootfontein and look into the museum in the Old Fort. It holds material on the find, and afterwards you will make more sense of what you have just seen.
Places to stay in Grootfontein
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Fiume Lodge & Game Farm
30 km from the town centre
- Pool
- Breakfast
- Restaurant
- Parking
from €217per night on 23 November 2026
Check prices on trivago
Paradise Rest Camp
From Grootfontein on the B8 Main Road, 80 km towards
- Pool
- Breakfast
- Parking
- Air conditioning
from €41per night on 13 November 2026
Check prices on trivago
Family Cottage With En Suite Bathroom And Kitchenette
D2859
- Pool
- Kitchen
- Parking
- Air conditioning
from €57per night on 18 November 2026
Check prices on trivagoHoba meteorite: frequently asked questions
Why is there no crater at the Hoba meteorite?
The Hoba meteorite was probably slowed by the atmosphere to about 2.75 kilometres a second. It stayed in one piece and threw up hardly any earth on impact, so there is no crater.
Who discovered the Hoba meteorite?
The Hoba meteorite was found by a farmer ploughing around 1920. English Wikipedia names Jacobus Hermanus Brits, while the mineralogist Leonard James Spencer named Michael H. Hanssen in 1932 as the man then living on the farm.
Can you visit the Hoba meteorite without a guide?
The state heritage council's fee schedule lists the Hoba meteorite only as a guided visit. The guide is included in the entry fee, which you pay at the ticket office.
How do you get to the Hoba meteorite?
From Grootfontein take the C42 towards Tsumeb and turn west just outside town onto the signposted side road to the Hoba meteorite. By route planner it is 23 kilometres.