Abandoned Desert Ghost Town of Kolmanskop, Africa (Sitios fantasma VIII) – 24 Tales of Ghost Towns and Abandoned Cities – WebUrbanist

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Abandoned Desert Ghost Town of Kolmanskop, Africa

A series of structures seemingly displaced in space in time, the remains of a diamond-mining settlement in Africa sits abandoned and partly covered by long-gathered dunes of sand. Tourists have a difficult trek to get to Kolmanskop to see what remains of its strangely Germanic architecture – and then wade through the drifts to get a glimpse of the inside of its structures. Like any good German town the area had a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, theater and casino. When the diamond market crashed it was simply left to be covered over with the sands of time.

vía 24 Tales of Ghost Towns and Abandoned Cities Abandoned Desert Ghost Town of Kolmanskop, Africa – WebUrbanist.

Kolmanskop Ghost Town

Kolmannskuppe is a ghost town in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. It was a small mining village and is now a popular tourist destination run by the joint firm NAMDEB (Namibia-De Beers). It developed after the discovery of diamonds in the area in 1908, to provide shelter for workers from the harsh environment of the Namib Desert.

The village was built like a German town, with facilities like a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theater and sport-hall, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray-station in southern Africa. It also had a railway line to Lüderitz.

The town declined after World War I as diamond prices crashed, and operations moved to Oranjemund. It was abandoned in 1956 but has since been partly restored. The geological forces of the desert mean that tourists can now walk through houses knee-deep in sand. (Text Source: Wikipedia)

Kolmanskop a ghost town in the desert of Namibia

Kolmanskop is a ghost town in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. It was a small mining village and is now a popular tourist destination run by the joint firm NAMDEB (Namibia-De Beers).

Imagen: OneStonedCrow (Blog)

Kolmanskop Ghost Town

The town of Kolmanskop in the harsh Namibia desert was a boom town at one time but is abandoned today except for the steady stream of curious tourists who come daily to see how the sand is reclaiming the town.

Kolmanskop – Ghost Town in the Namib
Diamond Mining Town Reclaimed by the African Desert

Close to Lüderitz in Southern Namibia, the once prosperous diamond-mining town of Kolmanskop is slowly being buried in the white sand of the Namibian Desert.

Read more at Suite101: Kolmanskop – Ghost Town in the Namib: Diamond Mining Town Reclaimed by the African Desert http://namibia-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/kolmanskop_ghost_mining_town_in_the_namib#ixzz0utdvQok2

Kolmanskop
Namibia

In 1908, Luederitz was plunged into diamond fever. People rushed into the Namib desert hoping to make an easy fortune and within two years, a town, complete with a casino, school, hospital and exclusive residential buildings, had been established in the barren sandy desert. The diamond-bearing gravel was screened and washed in huge recovery plants. Over 1 000 kg of diamonds were extracted before World War I. However, the amount of gemstones greatly diminished after the war. Furthermore, considerably larger diamonds were found to the south near Oranjemund, causing Kolmanskop to become a ghost town.

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