"People say she’s crazy.
She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes.
Well, that’s one way to lose these walking blues.
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes."

It’s unlikely that the shorter half of Simon and Garfunkel ever wandered the windswept hills outside Lüderitz on Namibia’s southwest coastline, but his song couldn’t have been more fitting.

In 1909 railway workers laying tracks to the interior literally stumbled over diamonds lying loose on the white sands of the desert stretching east, giving rise to Lüderitz’s remarkable boom and inevitable bust. Fortune-seekers came from across the globe and transformed the small trading town first settled in 1883 by one Adolf Lüderitz.

Enterprising young miners became millionaires overnight but, as the diamonds became harder to find and two World Wars took their toll, Lüderitz slipped slowly into the quiet little spot it is today. Fishing and rock lobster took the place of gleaming gems as the source of the town’s wealth, but even those are dwindling. The diamonds of Kolmanskop may be long gone, but the source of that great wealth has brought a new goldmine to the town: tourism.

Kolmanskop and the diamond ghost towns

Lying 15 kilometres outside town, Kolmanskop was once one of the most prosperous towns in southern Africa. Home to 300 German diamond workers and nearly 1000 local labourers, the town was a bustling centre, which boasted its own swimming pool, school, bowling alley and even attracted European opera stars to perform in the entertainment hall.

Such was the wealth that water for the residents was shipped all the way from Cape Town, and the town was home to Southern Africa’s first X-ray machine. The jury’s still out on whether it was intended for uncovering smuggled diamonds or medical emergencies!

Today, the village has become a ghostly reminder of the bustling diamond days. Guided tours of Kolmanskop take place daily, with well-informed guides bringing the ruined buildings to life. However, it is well worth exploring on your own for an hour or two, so get there early and wander the deserted streets before the crowds arrive.

You might even spot the town’s only ‘permanent’ resident; a wandering Brown Hyena. Do stop in at the small museum with its entertaining display illustrating the ingenious ways in which miners tried to smuggle out diamonds, and end off with a tasty scone from the tearoom. Kolmanskop is certainly the most famous of the area’s ghost towns, but a number of other villages lie crumbling in the desert, and can be visited on day tours from Lüderitz.

If ghost towns are your thing, a number of local tour operators combine a Kolmanskop tour with a trip to Elizabeth Bay, an even more spectacular deserted town deep in the Sperregebiet – ‘forbidden zone’ – to the south of Lüderitz. Because this is still a restricted diamond-mining zone these tours need to be booked in advance, but are well worth planning ahead for. Most tours also include a visit to the spectacular Bogenfels Arch.

Goerke Haus

The houses of Kolmanskop may lie desolate and deserted, the relentless wind blowing sand through doorways and ripping shutters from window-frames, but some of the magnificent Art Nouveau homes built by wealthy diamond barons still stand proud in the city’s streets today. The most famous of these is Goerke Haus, which sits regally on Am Diamantberg Street. Hans Goerke, once the Inspector of Mines, was a powerful man in Lüderitz and his multi-story mansion offers a wonderful glimpse into the life some lived when diamonds were plentiful and the world was Lüderitz’s oyster.

Goerke Haus is open to the public most days of the week except when executives from De Beers, who still mine in the area, use it as their Lüderitz home-away-from-home. Keep an eye out for the magnificent stained-glass windows on the staircase.

Discover more about Kolmanskop on page two...

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