Lüderitz - Aus
Port town Lüderitz
Ghost town Kolmanskop
Namibian wild horses at Aus
Lüderitz is a harbour town in the south of Namibia. The main attraction here is Kolmanskop, a ghost town that is slowly disappearing under sand dunes.
Lüderitz is a natural harbour – something of a rarity along the Namibian coast – but is still not suitable for large modern ships, which usually dock at Walvis Bay. Lüderitz experienced a boom when diamonds were discovered at nearby Kolmanskop in 1909, but these times are long gone, and Lüderitz is now battling to be remembered.
The discovery of diamonds at Kolmanskop saw the area boom. The town became one of the richest in Africa, and its approximately 400 residents were not afraid to spend their money.
Learn more ..
Stately houses in the German architectural style, broad streets and the first x-ray station in the southern hemisphere all bore witness to the wealth of the people living here. They even built a swimming pool – despite the fact that town’s water was brought in from Cape Town some 1000 km away. The euphoria didn’t last long, however, and diamond mining ceased just 40 years later, when the residents left their town to the desert.
A railway line leads from Lüderitz via Kolmanskop to Aus, a small town some 120 km inland. Around 200 Namibian wild horses whose origin is not really known live close to Aus. It is thought that horses got lost in the turmoil of war. As large areas around Lüderitz were declared restricted zones due to the diamond mining, this allowed them to remain here and thrive undisturbed. The horses like to visit the watering hole at Garub, about 20 km west of Aus, where visitors can observe them from a hideout.
... less
