The Naukluft Mountains (Afrikaans and German: Naukluftberge) are a mountain range in central Namibia. The southern part of the mountain range forms the easternmost part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. The northern mountains are occupied by privately held farms. They are known for their wildlife, including mountain zebras and leopards. The mountains have many small streams and waterfalls.
Naukluft is the Namibian German rendering of the Afrikaans Noukloof, meaning "narrow ravine", from nou ('narrow', cf Dutch nauw) and kloof ('ravine', cf German Kluft).[1]
- ^ Bergerson, Jeremy (2011). Apperception and Linguistic Contact between German and Afrikaans (PDF) (PhD). University of California, Berkeley. pp. 133–134.
German loans in Namibian Afrikaans […] Naukluft < noukloof 'narrow ravine' […] Kluft normally means 'ravine, crevasse, chasm', while in Afrikaans kloof shares those senses, but refers specifically to the kinds of steep-walled ravines one often sees in Namibia and the Cape. The word was borrowed outright as well, so that both Kloof 'steep-walled ravine' and -kluft co-exist in Namibian German.