Luderitz, Namibia
Today we were up early. We have immigration and passport inspection at 7:00am so we got up early so we could grab breakfast before they call for us to report. We grabbed a quick breakfast in the Lido and wouldn’t you know it as soon as we sat down with our food they called for our group. We took 10 minutes to inhale our food and headed to meet the immigration officers who are on the ship in the Main Dining Room. We got our passports stamped and then headed to the Main Stage to meet our excursion group at 7:30am. Today is a tender port so it always takes a little longer to get onto shore on these days. We headed to the pier and hopped into small buses that each sat around 15 people. We took a 15 minute drive to the ghost town of Kolmanskop. It is an old diamond mining town that the German’s colonized. It was originally a harbor town for other ships looking for shelter and supplies on the journey around the Cape of Good Hope. Within three years of being established it was flourishing. In March of 1908 the first diamond was discovered here. There was a railway worker who formerly worked in a diamond mine and his boss was a geologist. The railway worker brought the stone to his boss who was not sure what it was so he took it to be certified. But before the man would certify it he made a deal to profit from 20% of the value of the now known diamond. When the boss returned to the town he said nothing to anyone about what he had discovered. Instead he quietly bought up all the mining rights in the area and in May of 1908 diamond fever broke out. In the first 4 years of mining here they removed 5 million kilos of diamonds. At the time it represented 20% of the worlds diamonds. This town was known to have the highest income per capita in the world. The type of diamonds the discovered here were alluvial diamonds. These are river diamonds that flowed downstream from the original source of the diamonds, an earlier erupted volcano up stream. So as soon as theses types of diamonds are gone, they were all gone. By 1928 they found diamonds 6 times the size of the ones in Kolmanskop and the mining people and resources moved to Elizabeth Bay. By 1938 all mining in this area stopped. In 1956 when the hospital closed, the last of the families left and the town was abandoned. The town lived less than 50 years. It had was overbuilt in anticipation of this becoming the next flourishing town but that never came to pass. The lavish town that was among the first in the world to have electricity, phones in every home, and even a form of air conditioning because the town was so wealthily there was nothing they couldn’t afford. There was even a bowling alley in the city center building. They even made their own ice for the towns people from fresh drinking water that was actually shipped here in wooden barrels from Cape Town. It also had the first X-ray in the southern hemisphere. When a miners two year contract was done before he and his family could leave the town they had to be x-rayed to ensure they weren’t smuggling any diamonds. All the building material used to build this town came from Europe. The hospital had a cellar in it and that is where they stored red wine because the doctor insisted that every patient receive a glass of red wine every day. Now that’s my type of doctor. After our guided tour we were given some free time to wander through the buildings independently with a stern moving to be careful as there are no safety standards here and many of the building are over 100 years old. There has been no upkeep and maintenance and as you can see from the photos, the buidlings are slowly being reclaimed by sand dunes around them. It made for an interesting and historical excursion for the day. On our way back through town we encounter a craftsman selling hand carved wooden statues. W also found a playground and Megan took the opportunity to be a little kid for a bit. There were a few children with the artisans and I had some South African candy with me so I was able to share it with the kids. We were back to the ship before noon today as there was not much else to see except for a small town that we opted not to explore. We spent our afternoon registering Megan for high school and doing her class selection for her freshman year. I am officially all caught up on my blogs as well. Today is Saint Patrick’s Day. So Happy wearing of the green to you all!! Tonight they had a lovely themed menu in the main dining room. We each enjoyed a traditional corned beef brisket entree complete with a cold Guinness beer for me. After dinner we came home and relaxed until just before 9:00pm. There was a Saint Patrick’s day party on the Lido deck around the pool this evening. We stayed for only a short while. They had a bar crawl this evening that I participated in with Mom on the 2020WC. I wasn’t feeling it tonight and we have a port day tomorrow that I have to get up and ready for tomorrow. It was neat seeing all the staff in green hats and beads helping to set the atmosphere of tonight’s celebration. I am finishing up this post, crawling into bed and hope to be fast asleep quickly. Enjoy your St Patrick’s Day everyone. Find a tradition that means some special to you and your family and make it happen!! Love and Hugs.
Live Vicariously Through Debra 