In the Namib desert, a few kilometers away from the Namibian port town of Lüderitz, there's the ghost town of Kolmanskop. Built by Germans in the beginning of the 20th century, Kolmanskop used to house approximately 1,000 diamond miners and their families. As it usually happens though, the town was left abandoned once the diamond field was exhausted.
The story began in 1908 when German Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working in the area and showed to his supervisor, the German railway inspector August Stauch. After realizing that this area was rich in diamonds, lots of German miners settled in this area and soon after the German government declared a large area as a "Sperrgebiet", starting to exploit the diamond field.
The town had a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, swimming pool, casino, and even a bowling It had the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa. A railway link connected the town to the port of Lüderitz.
The town had a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, swimming pool, casino, and even a bowling It had the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa. A railway link connected the town to the port of Lüderitz.
The decline began after the World War II when the diamond-field slowly exhausted, and the town was ultimately abandoned in 1954. In the following decades, the desert covered the streets and the tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand.
SEE ALSO: More abandoned ghost towns around the world // More abandoned places in the desert // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES
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What an awesome idea and an awesome blog!
ReplyDeleteI will definitely follow you from now on on bloglovin'!
amazing place it is.....
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