Luderitz, Namibia – Nearby Ghost Town - Feb 7th

Luderitz is a small port town of 8,000 surrounded by desert dunes and moonscape; 23 kilometers from the abandoned town of Kolmanskop, once the richest diamond field in the world. Between 1908 and 1914 it produced 5,000 pounds of diamonds, 20% of world production. Here it is as dry as Walvis Bay, but much windier. “The wind is our rain,” our guide said. Namibia was a German colony until 1918; then a South African protectorate until independence in 1990.

Luderitz

Around Kolmanskop was a rich field of alluvial diamonds; the gems lay on the surface or just below; you could literally walk around and pick up a big diamond, just like in Sydney Shelton's “The Master of the Game.”

Here is sand-blown Kolmanskop. Workers would crawl with their bellies pressed to the ground, packed side-by-side, 100 in a row, scouring the sand in front of them by hand for diamonds. They worked 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, for a 2 year contract.

After the diamond discovery, the Germans rapidly granted concessions, strictly controlled the area, and built the complete town including a 23 kilometer railroad spur from Luderitz in about 10 months. Almost everything came from Germany (or Capetown) including water. As a result, the prices of water and beer were identical.

Water was shipped by boat from Cape Town to Luderitz, transferred to wooden barrels, and shipped to Kolmanskop by rail.

Ice was made in this ice plant using an electrolytic reaction between sea water and ammonia that dropped the seawater to -4 degrees C; freshwater in metal sleeves protruding through the grid into the seawater froze solidly. Kolmanskop had its own coal-fired generator from Germany with the coal coming from Cape Town.

Ice factory

After WWI, South Africa transferred the concession to a joint DeBeers-Namibian company. In 1928, the combination of having already harvested the easily discoverable gems as well as the opening of a much richer field near the mouth of the Orange River in the south led to a significant decline in Kolmanskop operations, until it was completely abandoned in 1958.

A number of citizens of Kolmanskop had became millionaires. The village was affluent enough to have equipment for “Keglers” and “Gymnastikers” imported from Germany. Everything has been perfectly preserved in the dry environment with no moisture:

Everyone had trouble with the wind blowing sand into their eyes. Well, almost everyone. 

Astute LTC observers will recognize Bob's goggles from his "Rocky the Flying Squirrel" costume from one of Eduardo's birthday parties.