Cabinet has approved the renaming of the National West Coast Tourist Recreation Area in the Erongo Region to the Dorob National Park.

The Environment and Tourism Ministry, through the Namibian Coast Conservation Management Project (Nacoma) had consultations with various groups in the Erongo Region to find an appropriate name for the park.

The Topnaar Traditional Authority proposed the name Dorob National Park, which was accepted.

“Dorob means dry land,” a press release of the Information Ministry on the latest Cabinet decisions said.

According to the oral history of the desert people in the 16thcentury, the area between Luderitz and Walvis Bay up to the Kunene River was known as Doro-!Hub or Dry Land.

The Dorob National Park extends from the Ugab River in the north to the southern end of the Sandwich Harbour floodplains.

It also includes the gravel plains of the Namib-Naukluft Park, between the Swakop and Kuiseb Rivers, all the way to the current eastern boundary of the National West Coast Tourist Recreation Area.

The Minister of Environment and Tourism approached Cabinet for endorsement of the new name.

Cabinet in February 2008 approved the proclamation of the State land in the Walvis Bay area and the National West Coast Tourist Recreation Area, with the exclusion of the municipal areas, as a national park.

http://www.namibian.com.na