{"id":12869,"date":"2013-04-09T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T05:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/ms-expedition-west-africa-day-3-luderitz-and-kolmanskop-namibia\/"},"modified":"2013-04-09T05:45:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T05:45:00","slug":"ms-expedition-west-africa-day-3-luderitz-and-kolmanskop-namibia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/04\/ms-expedition-west-africa-day-3-luderitz-and-kolmanskop-namibia\/","title":{"rendered":"MS Expedition West Africa Day 3: Luderitz and Kolmanskop, Namibia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pic: Abandoned houses in the desert at Kolmanskop<\/p>\n

Day 3: Luderitz and Kolmanskop, Namibia<\/p>\n

The first thing that struck me when arriving in this desolate and remote
\n
little port town was the similarity of the Kaiser-era German architecture
\n
against a stark desert landscape with that of my home state of South
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Australia. The quaint and sleepy towns of the Eyre Peninsula and Riverina
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bear an uncanny resemblance to Luderitz here amid the parched, windswept and
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sandy terrain of Namibia. Swan Reach, Mannum or Ceduna would not be
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out-of-place in this equally inhospitable environment except that there is
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even less rain and foliage here on the so-called Skeleton Coast of Africa.<\/p>\n

Wandering the streets of this former German trading post built mainly during
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the last two decades of the 19th century and into the first of the 20th
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century, one is reminded of the determined colonial zeal of the European
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powers at this time and their ruthless ambition to dominate and exploit at
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the expense of the indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

Down Bismarck St in the centre of Luderitz are taverns, shops and houses
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built by the wealthy German traders. The most substantial and impressive
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structures were constructed after the city was raised to municipal status
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following the brutal conclusion of the so-called Hottentot Revolt around
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1907. It’s fascinating to chat with the few remaining European descendents
\n
in their old German tongue, still used along with English and Afrikaans in
\n
daily life.<\/p>\n

The big news from here was the accidental finding of diamonds in 1908.
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Mining for these gems continued well into the 20th century, even after the
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German Protectorate was lost after WWI.<\/p>\n

The mining town of Kolmanskop was built at this time, just a few clicks out
\n
of Luderitz and these now abandoned buildings serve as a stark reminder to
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the ambition and hardships these early folk were prepared to endure for the
\n
lure of sparkling gems. It’s a surreal sight to behold these ornate and
\n
impressive houses being slowly consumed by the voracious dunes of the Namib
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Desert.<\/p>\n

But the desert moves on and so do we, toward Walvis Bay tomorrow.<\/p>\n

For further info including deatiled history, see:
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www.luderitztowncouncil.com.na<\/a><\/p>\n

Sent to you over a satellite phone using GMN’s XGate software.
\n
Please be kind and keep your replies short<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pic: Abandoned houses in the desert at Kolmanskop Day 3: Luderitz and Kolmanskop, Namibia The first thing that struck me when arriving in this desolate and remote little port town was the similarity of the Kaiser-era German architecture against a stark desert landscape with that of my home state of South Australia. The quaint and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[344],"class_list":["post-12869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gap-adventures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}