Kolmanskop
In the dry, barren stretches on the edge of the Namib Desert in south-western Africa lie the bones of a grand town.
Among the gentle curves of the sand drifts and bleached stone outcrops, ornate buildings rise, defying their desolate surroundings and exuding an air of quiet dignity.
The vastness of the lonely landscape dwarfs the buildings and the sand seeks to hide the structures within itself. It is not until you approach the houses that their characteristic German architecture, featuring truncated roofs and generous windows, can be appreciated.
Kolmanskop lies 850km south-west of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and 10km east of the isolated coastal town of Luderitz. Formerly, a train line ran eastwards from the coast at Luderitz to the larger town of Keetmanshoop, where it connected with a northern line to the capital.
In 1908, Zacherias Lewala, a railway employee shoveling drift sand from the tracks, found some interesting stones. He took them to August Stauch, the permanent-way inspector of the line, who was an avid naturalist, and had asked his workers to bring in any unusual objects they found. Mr. Stauch, a former employee of De Beers in South Africa, took the stones to Luderitz for an expert opinion. The stones were diamonds.
When the rumors of the discovery, in what was then known as German South-West Africa, reached Cape Town, they were received with incredulity. This inhospitable and desolate region had been offered to the Cape government in 1885 but politely refused. The richest diamond deposits in the world were to be found in this area.
All the available ground in the vicinity of Luderitz was quickly pegged out and claimed. Laborers, organised in search lines and muffled against the blowing sands, crawled along on all fours armed with jam jars. The diamonds were picked off the ground and the jars filled rapidly. One of the first discoveries was made just before nightfall, so prospecting continued long into the night, with the glimmer of stones identifiable by moonlight.
Kolmanskop grew out of the diamond boom. The region was administered by Germany at the beginning of the century and the town reflected this in its character. It was said of the Germans that only after they had finished building the pub and the skittle alley, their favorite form of relaxation, did they start looking for suitable plots to build their houses. In 1912, the area produced one million carats or 11.7 per cent of the world’s total diamond production.
The inhabitants did not lack for entertainment either. A German expert was brought in to design and supervise the building of a magnificent hall, with acoustics so fine that today visitors are still encouraged to put them to the test and burst into song. The mine even paid for opera companies to be shipped from Europe to perform in this oasis. The hall was also used by the local orchestra, theatre group and gymnastics troop.
World War I interrupted mining operations. The resumption of mining after the war led to the slow depletion of deposits. By the early-’30s, the area was in decline. Hastening the town’s demise was the discovery in 1928 of the richest diamond-bearing deposits ever known. These were on the beach terraces 270km 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. Kolmanskop retained some importance as a supply depot for other mining operations, including those on the Orange River. This role passed, too, as it became easier to bring supplies from South Africa. The last three families finally deserted the town in 1956.
The vastness of the lonely landscape dwarfs the buildings and the sand seeks to hide the structures within itself. It is not until you approach the houses that their characteristic German architecture, featuring truncated roofs and generous windows, can be appreciated.
The name of the town, Kolmanskop, derives from a driver, Johnny Coleman who once abandoned his ox wagon next to the settlement. The name means “Coleman’s hill” in Afrikaans.
Before World War I, the mines near Kolmanskop produced more than 1,000 kilograms of diamonds.
In other terms, five million karats of diamonds were extracted in the first six years of mining here.
The maximum population the community reached was 1,300.
Despite being world-famous, the abandoned community of Kolmanskop is not very popular with tourists, probably because a special permit is needed for visiting it as well.
The town is part of a so-called “forbidden zone” or Sperrgebiet, an area of 26,000 square kilometers that is not possible to visit without permit. The area is operated jointly by De Beers and the Namibian government.
The whole Sperrgebiet is also a natural park, which puts it in a unique situation as it is one of the few natural parks in the world where access is severely restricted.
Due to its relatively low population, for a short while, Kolmanskop was the town with the highest per capita wealth in the world.
The last family left the town in 1956.
Visiting Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop’s history is short. In a span of 40 years the town had lived, flourished and died.
Visitors to the ghost town can take an hour-long tour offered daily and it can be booked from Luderitz. The tour reflects on the town’s boom and bust.
A museum established by De Beers in 1980 displays old mining implements and an extensive collection of photographs from the town’s halcyon days when around 300 Germans adults, 40 children and 800 Owambo contract workers called Kolmanskop home.
On the hilltop that overlooks the town there is an old water tank, just another symbol of the obstacles that challenged those trying to survive without the natural resources essential to sustain life.
Where Oompah bands played to finely dressed Germans in a gilded ballroom, ice was delivered each morning to homes and housewives, brooms in hand, waged a futile war at their thresholds against the endless onslaught of the Namib Desert.
Most buildings are in ruins today but some have been glamorously renovated giving you an even better feel of the contrast between what this place once was and what it is today – a land reclaimed by nature.
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