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CHAMÄLEON + ONJALA OBSERVATORY |
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| The
initial plans for Chameleon and Onjala observatories go back to 2012. Following
the bankruptcy of Rooisand Desert lodge in 2010/2011 a new home had to be found
for the equipment of Mr Paech. Through a lucky coincidence we got in touch with
the owners of Onjala lodge and soon afterward signed a collaboration
agreement. Consequently the management of Onjala lodge was able to buy the entirety of the old equipment of Rooisand lodge. The preparation phase started in the summer of 2012 and in the fall of the same year the specific locations for both new observatories were chosen. In the winter of 2012 Franz Hofmann joined the team. Between fall 2012 and March of 2013 local craftsmen built the fundament for the 3 and 4 meter domes and starting mid-April both dome and instruments were installed. In the presence of the lodge owners and many national and international guests the observatories were officially opened on May 4th 2013. ( » left to right: W. Paech, Ingo Lies, Peter Pack, Heiner Soltau) |
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Onjala in the Namibian press: click here for an article on the opening as well as for details by the Namibian Tourism Board here.
In the following we will give general information on the planning process and will show pictures relating the construction of the domes and the mounting of the instruments. You can find a more detailed description about the buildings with planning and construction sketches here but only in german language.
All picture galleries will be loaded in a separate browser window.
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Planning and
Onjala Guest Lodge: General Picture galleries of the 3 meter dome
Picture gallery of the opening ceremony on May 4th 2013 « Heiner Soltau and the Onjala builders team |
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| All Images and Content are © by Franz Hofmann + Wolfgang Paech |