2 19 LUDERITZ, NAMIBIA

Luderitz is a small town.  It has some colorful houses and buildings. 

Some of the people are colorful, as well.

When we arrived, there were children playing at pool area.  And just like at home, a jumping play area.

  A cormorant drying his wings.

We hired a taxi and visited a ghost town from the diamond mining beginnings.  It was abandoned in 1958 when bigger stones were found elsewhere.

Kolmanskuppe, as the name implies, was founded by Germans in around 1908.  Now it has been taken over by sand.  Though, as you can see in the picture above, they found a way to charge a fee to see the town.  It is worth the fee, since they have to shovel out the buildings at least twice a month, so we can get inside.

The town, even though it was and is very isolated, had most of the modern conveniences of the day.  For example, they had ice made and delivered each day, for their ice boxes.  They also received, at no charge, water that was shipped in, lemonade  and salt daily.  The managers lived in lovely homes, with indoor plumbing and electricity.

    

The workers had to sign up for a 2 year contract.  During those 2 years they could not leave the area.  They lived in barracks, see in the distance on the picture below.  When their 2 years had passed, they were treated with castor oil for a week, their toilets were covered with mesh, to catch anything “unusual”, like a diamond.  By then they should have made enough money to start a new life somewhere. 

There was an exhibit of many ways people tried to smuggle diamonds out of the mine.  The ways they showed were the ways they caught.  Makes you wonder how many ways were used, that worked :)

It was a very interesting trip, even though it was very hot.  It was not very windy.  We were told that high winds are the norm.  They even had a trolley for everyone to use, to move around the town, since the winds were so bad.  Women would use it to go from home to the stores and back.  I imagine this convenience was not available to the workers.