Hakos offers currently 19 Remote Observatories for long-term rental, 17 with roll roofs, 2 with 3m domes.
The current remote observatories are operated by Waltraud Straube and Friedhelm Hund.
Hakos will build new remote observatories in the near future.
Waltraud Straube
Waltraud was born in Swakopmund/Namibia and completed her schooling in Windhoek. Her tertiary education took place in Cape Town/South Africa with a qualification in secretarial studies. Subsequently, Waltraud decided to go abroad, where she worked as a private secretary at the Pfanniwerk in Munich/Germany for 10 years. Following further studies and training in public relations, naturopathy and homeopathy, she cared for the elderly and severely handicapped people in Vienna/Austria. In 1998 she returned to Namibia. There she joined her now deceased father Walter Straube to run the guest house on the farm Hakos.
Until February 2024, she and Friedhelm managed the guest operation on Hakos.
Friedhelm Hund
Friedhelm was born in Germany and spent his school years there. He then became the head of a software development company, Görlitz AG in Koblenz. Since 1990 he has been involved in astronomy and from 1996 he regularly travelled to Southern Africa. As from 2000, Friedhelm partnered with Waltraud and remained permanently on Hakos.Previous knowledge in the field of electrical engineering and system integration enabled him to design, install and support remote observatories.
Until February 2024, he was also the technical manager of the guest farm, looked after the astro-guests, observatories and conducted stargazing tours.