Kolmanskop
on Alex MacMillan (Namibia), 01/Oct/2012 13:40, 34 days ago
The day that Alex finished his work, we packed the hire car and set off for our final trip to the South of Namibia. We were going to see Luderitz, on the coast of Namibia, and the ghost town of Kolmanskop nearby.Luderitz is not visited all that often due to its isolated position. From Windhoek, you travel 500km South to Keetmanshoop, not too far from the South African border, then turn right and travel West for another 300km until you hit the coast and the small town of Luderitz. Flanked on either side by sand dunes of the Namib desert, Luderitz was founded in 1883 when Adolf Luderitz, from Germany, bought the land from the local Nama chief. When diamonds were discovered in the area in the early 1900's, the town enjoyed a sudden boom, which, of course, ended the minute the diamonds dried up. What is left is a pretty town with a lot of quaint German architecture, and deserted mining towns nearby that are slowly being taken over by the shifting sand dunes of the desert.Since I had a sprained ankle from a trampoline-related injury whilst back in Europe for two weeks, I couldn't drive the hire car at all. Alex and I therefore decided to stop off on the way there in Keetmanshoop, a town we really liked, and in Mariental on the way back.Keetmanshoop, a Nama town where we'd done a research trip previously, was as dusty and dry as we remembered. Pulling up in our hotel, we drove over to the township to drop off some copies of the research reports (that had, by that time, been printed and published) for the caregivers groups. The supervisor at Catholic AIDS Action chuckled as he saw the photos inside the report. "Ah, that one is in Walvis Bay now," he chuckled, pointing at one man in a picture "I will tell him this is here."The church in KeetmanshoopThe drive to Luderitz is a dusty 300km through parched land that slowly turns into desert. We only saw one other car on the road the whole time. We were pleased we'd packed extra water, just in case. Kokerboom treeThe road to LuderitzWild horses roam in this part of NamibiaThe ever-blue Namibian skyAlex did all the driving and I put my feet upThe land turns into desertFinally arriving in Luderitz, we pulled up to our hotel. The owners only spoke German - mixed with Afrikaans - and so we chattered until our simple German gave up (which was quite soon). The town itself was very reminiscent of German architecture - as though a small Austrian village had been picked up and transposed to the desert.Hot, sticky and dusty - in Luderitz, the view from our hotel over the water.Wandering through the town and comparing prices of boat rides, we decided to call our hotel and ask the owners to book a boat ride for us (as they'd offered to do earlier) for the next morning. That sorted, we went and enjoyed rice, wine, cheese and pizza as the sun set over the sea.The next day, following a good night's sleep, we went very early to catch the boat ride and set out to see the dolphins and penguins that frequented the area.The harbourLuderitz from the harbourShips, and desert in the distanceChatting away with some German tourists on the boat, the Captain came and sat with us, interested to hear that we were living there. He knew Alex's boss who worked at the LAC, Toni. "What do you think of the Namibia?" we asked him, and he lamented the decline in education and hospital standards. Asking us to say hi to Toni, he soon had to tend to the boat again, and we turned our attention to the penguins who'd sprung up and were swimming by the boat.On the boatJackass PenguinsDolphinsEnjoying the wavesThe sea has an incredible calming effect. Whilst I don't enjoy flying much, the lurch of the waves doesn't make me feel sick - on the contrary, I find it very soothing. Sitting with Alex on the boat, warm in our jackets and sipping hot chocolate prepared by the crew, watching the birds and dolphins as we skimmed over the water, I wished we'd booked the day-long ride. It wasn't possible, however, as the opening times for Kolmanskop meant that today was our only day to view it. So when the boat docked at 11am, we quickly drove over to the museum entrance to catch the 11:30am tour. Kolmanskop, the deserted mining town, has been turned into a museum. Tourists here aren't very numerous, however, as Luderitz is still comparatively off the map for most coming to Namibia, who focus on Sossusvlei and Etosha. So even though it was 'very busy', there were still only twenty in our tour group. When we divided into different languages, there were only five left in our English-speaking group. Seeing the museum was, therefore, a lot of fun, very free, and we were able to ask all the questions we wanted.This train took fresh water from Cape Town to Luderitz, as there's no fresh water supply nearby. It would then also carry the ladies - in their huge dresses - around town.Going into some of the abandoned houses.Quite a view!That night, we enjoyed another fantastic dinner of pasta and wine, and sat by the water watching the world go by. The sea air felt clean and healthy. It was nice having a break before what we knew would be a hectic period - moving back to Europe and then settling into new jobs. This would therefore be our last holiday this year.The following day, back up to Mariental, on the way to Windhoek. We stopped for lunch in Keetmanshoop and said one last goodbye to the town. Reaching Mariental just as night fell, we settled into our farm house lodge and cooked ourselves a tomato and pasta dinner, washed down with whiskey. Getting back to Windhoek the next day was easy, and before we returned the hire car, we used it to drop off with friends some of the kitchen items that we couldn't take back to the UK. We were ready to start packing and saying goodbye.