Luderitz, Namibia

Luderitz was quite a surprise. It was a little German town plunked down in the middle of the desert that looked more like a movie set then a town. Built during the diamond rush the town went into decline when the big diamond company moved their headquarters out of the area. Recently it is seeing a little resurgence since one of the diamond mines opened up again and the country is focusing more on tourism. They built the dock are and are constructing a little waterfront that should be nice. Right now though it has a bunch of restored or kept up old German style homes and churches and a small downtown with a few nice local stores. There is not a native tree in the whole area. The homes have there foundations in the rock that makes up the hills around the little bay. The whole town is surrounded by this barren desert. It is quaint but spooky in some ways. I can't even imagine the thinking of the original inhabitants in this area. There was no fresh water supply (they hauled water from Cape Town). There were diamonds though so I guess that was enough for a lot of people. :-)Read more