Lüderitz & Kolmanskop

Lüderitz is Namibia's most bizarre town — a tiny German town at the end of the world. Named after the Bremen merchant Adolf Lüderitz, who "bought" the bay in 1883, laying the foundation for the German colony of South West Africa, the town feels like it's frozen in time.

The colorful Art Nouveau houses in blue, pink, and yellow cling to the wind-swept rocks above the bay. The Goerke House (1909) — a Wilhelminian masterpiece on the hill above the town — is the finest example. Antarctic winds whistle through the streets, and temperatures are cool even in summer. Lüderitz feels like a forgotten outpost on the edge of civilization.

The surroundings offer excellent penguin watching (African penguins on Halifax Island, accessible by boat tour) and the wild Diaz Point peninsula with a replica of the cross erected by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488.

🏚️ Kolmanskop — The Ghost Town

Kolmanskop is Namibia's most surreal photo subject — and one of the world's most famous ghost towns. Just 10 km east of Lüderitz lies this abandoned diamond town, which was the richest settlement in Africa between 1908 and 1930.

In 1908, a railway worker found the first diamond in the sand — sparking a rush. Within a few years, a complete German small town emerged: villa with Art Nouveau veranda, gymnasium, hospital, bowling alley, butcher, and an ice machine — in the middle of the desert. The first X-ray machine in the southern hemisphere was in Kolmanskop.

When the diamond fields were exhausted, the residents left. Since the 1950s, the desert has been reclaiming the town: Sand streams through open windows, fills living rooms to the ceiling, buries stairs and doors. The combination of Art Nouveau architecture and desert sand creates the surreal images that have made Kolmanskop world-famous.

Guided tours start daily at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. Photographers can obtain a special photo permit for early morning hours (when the light falls through the empty windows).