Southern Namibia
Join me on a visual journey through Southern Namibia, my favourite country on the planet.
Southern Namibia
Namibia is a big country, very big, far bigger than you might imagine, and it has just so much variety, interesting places and even more interesting people. Taking a road trip is my all-time favourite way of seeing the country from up close, getting to meet the people who make it unique and just enjoying the space and solitude.
Southern Namibia 🇳🇦 in Video
One of my favourite places in the whole world is Namibia, which is why we keep on returning. We visited Southern Namibia on a 10 day overland road trip. Visiting the Fish River Canyon, Luderitz and the diamond mining ghost towns of Kolmanskop (Kolmannskuppe) and Elizabeth Bay. From there we turned north to Sossusvlei, an incredible and special place where the Tsauchab River finds it's way to the ocean blocked by the desert sands.
Here's the Video:
Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei, a place that's had a special place in my heart ever since I first read about it in the ’80s, and then experienced through the photography of late Getaway Magazine photographer Patrick Wagner. Here the Tsauchab River, which only flows occasionally, eventually gives up its effort to reach the sea and disappears into the drifting sands of the Namib, the most ancient of the world's deserts.
Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop was founded in 1908 after railway worker, Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working his shift and showed it to his supervisor, German railway inspector August Stauch, who recognised the shiny stone for what it was. By 1912, Kolmanskop was one of the wealthiest towns in Southern Africa, producing 12% of the worlds diamonds.
Elizabeth Bay
Nearby Elizabeth Bay, which is less visited and has more of an "industrial" vibe, is overshadowed by the better known Kolmanskop. It was operational for less than 20 years, but it boasted an immense wealth of diamonds. As a result, in the 1920's German miners flooded the town, building a miniature Germany, in the Namibian desert. Today both places are slowly being reclaimed by the relentless desert sands.
