Yesterday was a day at sea. The ocean was calm so didn’t even hardly know we were sailing. Several lectures to attend, Trivia to compete in and the Captains Welcome Party.

Today we arrived in Luderitz, Namibia – Country #80 for me (with territories I am up to 115). Namibia has an area of 318,772 square miles – making it a bit bigger than Texas. The population is only 2.8 million so there are only 9.6 persons/square mile. Only Mongolia has a lower population density.

We had three options for tours: a hard hike, a walking tour of Luderitz or a visit to the Diamond Ghost Town of Kolmanskop. Walking tours always involve too much standing so I opted for the Ghost Town tour. I’ve seen photos of rooms half filled with sand and was hoping to get a similar photo. But not knowing which house to get those images, I didn’t have the energy to climb the steps into any of them

Diamonds were found here just laying on the surface, they had washed down from a nearby river. There was a huge boom, then a total bust. They are still mining diamonds in Namibia but now it is out in the ocean at the mouth of the river. They are using a dredging technique which is very destructive to the ocean floor.

Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a German town, with amenities and institutions including a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theatre and sports hall, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa.

People working at the mine were x-rayed when they left the mine. If diamonds were detected they were locked in “quarantine” and given powerful laxatives. There were strainers over the toilets to retrieve the diamonds.

Eventually more than a ton of diamonds were taken from the ground here.

The town started to decline during World War I when the diamond field slowly started to deplete. By the early 1920s, the area was in a severe decline. Hastening the town's demise was the discovery in 1928 of the richest diamond-bearing deposits ever known, on the beach terraces 170 miles south of Kolmanskop, near the Orange River. Many of the town's inhabitants joined the rush to the south, leaving their homes and possessions behind. The new diamond find merely required scouting the beaches as opposed to more difficult mining. The town was ultimately abandoned in 1956. The geological forces of the desert mean that tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand.

Here are some photos of the ghost town:

The Ice Making plant:

More photos of the town:

The tram:

Skittle Alley

Houses and offices:

In case you want some more history of this port/area:

In 1884 what is now Namibia became a German colony – German South West Africa. After WW1, it became a possession of British South Africa. In 1968 the UN changed its name to Namibia. Namibia gained its independence on 21 March 1990.

The bay on which Lüderitz is situated was first known to Europeans when Bartolomeu Dias encountered it in 1487. He named the bay Angra Pequena (Portuguese: Small Bay) and erected a padrão (stone cross) on the southern peninsula. In the 18th century Dutch adventurers and scientists explored the area in search of minerals but did not have much success. Further exploration expeditions followed in the early 19th century during which the vast wildlife in the ocean was discovered. Profitable enterprises were set up, including whaling, seal hunting, fishing and guano-harvesting. Lüderitz thus began its life as a trading post.

The town was founded in 1883 when Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Pequena and some of the surrounding land on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz, a Hanseat from Bremen in Germany, from the local Nama chief Josef Frederiks II in Bethanie. On 7 August 1884 the German Flag was officially hoisted in Angra Pequena. When Adolf Lüderitz did not return from an expedition to the Orange River in 1886, Angra Pequena was named Lüderitzbucht in his honor. The later shortening of the town's name to Lüderitz also refers to him.

In 1909, after the discovery of diamonds nearby, Lüderitz enjoyed a sudden surge of prosperity due to the development of a diamond rush to the area. In 1912 Lüderitz already had 1,100 inhabitants, not counting the indigenous population. Although situated in harsh environment between desert and Ocean, trade in the harbor town surged, and the adjacent diamond mining settlement of Kolmanskop was built.

After the German World War I capitulation, South Africa took over the administration of German South West Africa in 1915. Many Germans were deported from Lüderitz, contributing to its shrinking in population numbers. From 1920 onwards, diamond mining was only conducted further south of the

town in places like Pomona and Elizabeth Bay. This development consequently led to the loss of Lüderitz' importance as a trading place. Only small fishing enterprises, minimal dock activity and a few carpet weavers remained.

Today the town is developing a tourist industry with the unique history, architecture and wildlife of the area.