Today it is a ghostly abandoned city of houses flooded by sand and peeling walls, but its splendor dazzled the world for decades. Nestled in a windswept area on the edge of the Namib Desert in southwestern Namibia, the tiny town of Kolmanskop hides an exciting past that continues to fascinate travelers.
Its story is short but intense; Its origins date back to 1908, when present-day Namibia was a young German colony called Southwest Africa with great economic attractiveness. The potential of agriculture and the mines of copper and precious materials had aroused the interest of the metropolis, which did not hesitate to invest in the construction of a railway in order to make the transportation of precious goods easier.
During these works, which lasted for two decades, the wheelbarrow used by one of the workers, that of the Afrikaner Jani Kolman, came across some strangely shiny stones that turned out to be diamonds. The news of the discovery spread like wildfire and hundreds of workers willing to get rich with the gems traveled to this inhospitable corner, located a dozen kilometers from the port city of Lüderitz.
Kolmanskop, the name with which the place was baptized in honor of its discoverer, grew rapidly. In just four years it already had nearly 400 inhabitants and the exploitation obtained one million carats annually - almost 12% of the world's diamond production -, becoming one of the most prominent and prosperous mining enclaves on the planet.
Thanks to the wealth generated, the construction of wooden houses proliferated, creating a small German-style stadt; an exotic oasis in the middle of the desert that lacked nothing. It came to have a hospital, school, grocery stores, post office, power plant, an ice factory, a tram - the first in Africa - and even an X-ray machine - a technique that until then had not reached the hemisphere. south-. The facilities were complemented by a wide range of leisure activities, including a ballroom, a theatre, a bowling alley, a casino, a saltwater pool, and even a sports pavilion.
However, the diamond fever, which some assumed to be eternal, began to subside in the mid-1930s. The vein showed signs that stocks were scarce and the residents were leaving the place heading south, in search of new opportunities.
After the Second World War, Kolmanskop was already an almost ghost town, and in 1956, the last inhabitant finally chose to leave as well. From then on, uninhabited and at the expense of nature, the wind and sand ended up turning it into a disturbing place worthy of the most unique image.
Kolmanskop, now immersed in time, is not the only ghost town in the Tsau Khaeb (also known as Sperrgebiet) National Park. There are other abandoned towns in the area, such as Pomona or Elizabeth Bay -both on the south coast-, although it is the best known and, therefore, a tourist target not only for urban fans, but for everyone who visits this part of the country.
A tour of the premises allows you to see some of the most emblematic buildings that still stand, such as buildings and administrative offices, homes, the hospital or the casino. The image of these early 20th century buildings lost in the middle of nowhere, literally invaded by desert sand through windows and doors, are a coveted objective for any photography enthusiast. Commonly used objects, remains of the machinery that moved the mining exploitation, walls that have lost their original color, abandoned vehicles... Every detail is an invitation to travel to the past.
The entrance fee to Kolmanskop is 130 Namibian dollars (8 euros), a fee that increases to 330 NAD (€21) if you wish to take non-commercial photographs. Getting to the area from Windhoek - the capital -, located in the north of the country, involves a journey of almost seven hundred kilometers. There is no public transportation, so if you are traveling on your own, you must travel by rental car and spend the night in Lüderitz, the only notable city within many kilometers that has a complete range of accommodation.
