Kolmanskop, Namibia: Diamond-Mining Town Founded 1908, Abandoned 1956

Faline · #1 ● 06-09-2013, 03:05 PM

Kolmanskop was a German colonial diamond-mining town founded in 1908 in the Namib Desert, about 10 kilometers east of Lüderitz in southern Namibia. Railway worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while clearing sand from the Lüderitz-Keetmanshoop line and showed it to railway inspector August Stauch. Germany subsequently declared the surrounding diamond fields a restricted zone. By 1912, the field was producing about 1 million carats a year.

The settlement included a hospital, ballroom, theater, casino, ice factory, skittle alley and rail connection. It declined as the local deposits were depleted and richer fields were discovered near the Orange River in 1928. Kolmanskop was abandoned in 1956. Sand has since filled many of its painted rooms and partly buried its houses, rails and other structures. Restored buildings include a villa and the former skittle alley. Namdeb, a joint venture between the Namibian government and De Beers, now operates the site as a tourist attraction, and visitors require a permit to enter.