We visit the abandoned diamond mine at Elizabeth Bay and then continue to our next overnight stop, Duwisib Castle.
Today we are digging a little deeper into the abandoned diamond mining areas near Luderitz. Located in the Sperregebiet, meaning “Prohibited Area” in German, the old Elizabeth Bay diamond mine can only be visited with a guide who is able to obtain special entrance permits. As visitors, you must submit your passport and promise to do no rogue diamond mining during your tour. (No problem.) I found Heinz of Namib Offroad Excursions by perusing the Trip Advisor forums and emailed him to set up our tour.
The morning of, we set out from Aus early to catch the sunrise. The Luderitz railroad is parallel to the B4 highway for the entire drive, and about 30 kilometers outside of Aus sits a ruined home abutting the tracks. This morning, just as the sun was rising, we noticed two wild horses standing next to the house under a dead tree. We pulled over to take in the scene, and then carefully explored the building. It turned out that the photos I took here became some of my favorite of the entire trip. Experiences like this are why you want to come to Namibia.
In Luderitz we meet Heinz, our guide, and Konrad and Mary, another couple joining the tour. Konrad and Mary live in Germany but come to Namibia every few years for their vacation.
Near Kolmanskop we turn off on a dirt road and park at a guard shack. Heinz takes our passports inside and returns a few minutes later with permission to continue.
For 25 bumpy miles we drive toward the ocean in Heinz’ Landcruiser. Black water pipes run parallel to the road, sometimes lifted up on scaffolding. Heinz explains that porcupines like to break the pipes open to get to the fresh water inside, so work crews elevate the pipes in areas where the animals like to roam. Still, some mornings Heinz drives by and sees a little herd of animals drinking from a newly-opened pipe.
During the drive Konrad explains that he receives an ongoing inheritance from investments his grandfather made while living and working at Elizabeth Bay Mine back in the 30’s and 40’s.
The grandfather’s investment dividends are paid in Namibian dollars, so instead of paying upwards of 50% in taxes to transfer the money to Germany, they come to Namibia to collect it and use the funds to pay for their vacation.
Finally, we pass the modern Elizabeth Bay mining operation that opened in 1991– giant bland buildings and an enormous slag pile under a conveyor apparatus. A bit further down the road approaching the coastline, we get our fist view of the old ghost town. For just 20 years – from 1928 to 1948 – Elizabeth Bay extracted diamonds from the sandy landscape. Now it sits in a state of decay as the wind and sun do their work of dismantling it.
With Heinz, we walk through the old factory where shattered safety glass and tons and tons of iron machinery rusts where it was abandoned over 70 years ago.
He warns us of a family of brown hyenas living here – we never see the hyenas themselves but we see plenty of fur seal carcasses and bones. The hyenas often grab the skin at the seal’s neck and peel them like bananas.
As we inch down a dune to get under the main machinery hall, Konrad slips and falls hard on his back. We scream “OH!” but he’s ok, and I can’t help but think how a tour like this would never be offered in the U.S. As we continue under the rusted iron, we reach a generator pit where there are so many seal bodies and bones that the smell of decay wafts up and out like thick steam.
Eventually we make our way to the beach where more rusty machinery pokes up out of sand and surf. Then Heinz leads us up the hill toward the old village where we are free to explore on our own. Inside some homes we find murals of palm trees, and the bedrooms are ornate iron beds rusting away.
What’s most fascinating are the bunkhouses where single male laborers lived in tiny cell-like partitions. Outside are ablution blocks where dozens of men would share a few sinks and a row of open pit toilets. Littered around the grounds we find pieces of old shoes, brooms and brushes – all preserved by the dry air.
After an hour or so, we head to the “cafe” in an old community center where Heinz has set up tea and snacks. We sip our tea and eat tinned oysters or sandwich cookies before making our way back along the 25 miles of dusty road.
By 2pm, we are on the road out of town, heading toward our next overnight stay at Duwisib Castle. We take the C13 north, which is a wide rust-colored road through scrubby countryside. Eventually we turn on to the C14 and make it to Duwisib just after the sun sets.
We chose Duwisb because it’s a good place to overnight between Aus and Sossusvlei, and also because it’s weird as hell. I couldn’t pass up sleeping in a castle in the Namibian desert. Built by Baron Hans Heinrich von Wolf for his American wife in 1908, they only lived in the castle until 1914 when WWI broke out. Von Wolf eventually enlisted in the German army and was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. His wife never returned to Namibia and eventually died while living in New Jersey.
The castle itself is full of old furniture, art and other curious objects. The bedrooms are a bit dank and have a toilet behind a shoulder-high wall. Showers are down the hall. On arrival, we ordered a home-made dinner of lamb and vegetables in their courtyard. In the morning, we woke early and took a sunrise walk around the grounds. If you can take the quirkiness of this place with good humor, don’t pass up on staying overnight.
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