Kolmanskop, Namibia

Kolmanskop: German Diamonds in the Namib

In 1908, a railway worker named Zacharias Lewala found a diamond near here and handed it to his German supervisor. Within a year, prospectors had staked 2,100 claims in the area. By 1912 Kolmanskop was a functioning German colonial town with a ballroom, a skittle alley, a hospital with the first X-ray machine in the southern hemisphere, and a tram line connecting the houses. By 1956 it was empty.

The Namib Desert has been moving in ever since. Sand drifts through broken windows and fills rooms to chest height. A hallway that once led to a parlour now leads into a dune. The architecture is solid German colonial construction, which means the walls and roofs are still largely intact even as the interiors disappear under 60 years of accumulated desert.

Visiting

Kolmanskop sits 10km inland from Lüderitz, the coastal town that is the base for visiting this area. Entry requires a permit that is handled through Lüderitz Safaris and Tours, which operates the site. Tours run at 08:00 and 10:00 most mornings; the earlier one is better for photography as the light angles into the sand-filled rooms more dramatically. Admission is around NAD 120 for adults, covering the guided tour. Independent exploration is allowed after the guided section.

The most photographed buildings are the manager’s house, the bakery, and the bowling alley. The hospital building, slightly apart from the main cluster, is less visited and better preserved. Bring a wide-angle lens if photography is the point; the combination of period architecture, sand, and light does not need embellishment.

Morning temperatures are tolerable but the midday sun at this latitude in the Namib is intense. Wear something that covers your arms, carry water, and do not plan on lingering past noon without shade.

Lüderitz

The town of Lüderitz itself is an odd survival: a cluster of German colonial buildings on a rocky Atlantic coast that looks like it should be on the North Sea rather than southern Africa. The architecture includes the Goerke House, a colonial villa restored to period condition, and the Felsenkirche, a Lutheran church on a rocky outcrop above the harbour. The bay produces good crayfish (rock lobster), which the local restaurants serve correctly: grilled and not overcomplicated. The Penguin colony at Halifax Island is a short boat trip from the harbour.

The drive from Lüderitz to Kolmanskop takes about 15 minutes. The drive from Lüderitz to Aus (where wild horses roam the desert) takes about 90 minutes and is worth combining on the same trip. The Aus horses are feral descendants of German military horses from World War I and have adapted to the desert over a century; they are genuinely wild and the sightings near the Garub waterhole are reliable.

Accommodation in Lüderitz ranges from the Lüderitz Nest Hotel, which has the best sea views in town, to several competent guesthouses in the NAD 800-1,500 per night range. The nearest international airport is Windhoek, around 700km northeast; the road is paved and the drive takes about 8 hours.