At an altitude of 1,430m, Grootfontein is located in the northeast of Namibia and has a tropical climate. The city has an average annual precipitation of 500mm, with a maximum precipitation of 1,000mm in a single year. It registers temperatures ranging from 30℃ to 38℃ in summers and a lowest degree of 1℃ in winters. Grootfontein covers an area of 25,646 km², and had a population of about 140,000 at the end of 2022.

The area was first inhabited by several ethnic groups, and the Europeans started to establish settlements during the mid-late 19^th century. On September 8, 1896, a fort was built up. Its first election was held in 1933 and the area was officially named as a city in 1947. Since March 21, 1990 when Namibia declared independence, the city has been a constituency of the Otjozondjupa Region.

Grootfontein has four high schools. The Trans-Caprivi Highway connects Namibia with Zambia, Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The city serves as a terminal for TransNamib, the country’s national railway network, and is linked to the south of Namibia and South Africa through multiple railways. In addition, there is a high-standard runway easily accessible to almost all types of airplanes.

In Grootfontein, it is easy to use high-quality communication channels such as telephone, telex, fax and mobile phone. All major domestic and international television channels can also be accessed.

With few industrial sectors, Grootfontein promotes service industry as its core, which includes private service providers such as doctors, dentists and lawyers. Services offered by the central government, local governments and private businesses include retail, maintenance, construction, transportation, agriculture-oriented services and retail offerings. Husbandry is focused on large-scale cattle breeding and small-scale crop planting including corn, peanuts, sorghum, cotton, sunflowers and animal feed.

In July 2004, Kunshan and Grootfontein became sister cities.