Namibija – diamanti, veter in pesek, Kolmanskop

Divja pokrajina, veter in peska za znoret – to so besede, ki povedo vse o našem obisku južnega predela Namibije. Predela, kjer kraljujejo pusta puščavska pokrajina, zanimive živali, zapuščena mesta in z njimi povezani diamanti. Ja, diamanti so glavni razlog, da ljudje že desetletja poseljujejo in izkoriščajo ta zaprašeni del Namibije. Do Luderitza, največjega mesta ob obali atlantskega oceana, smo se s postanki vozili več kot 5 ur. Temperatura je bila iz kilometra v kilometer višja in nekaj deset kilometrov pred obalo smo doživeli tudi temperaturni rekord potovanja – tam okrog 45 stopinj celzija. Ni ga čez lep afriški jesenski dan. 🙂 Samo mesto Luderitz ne ponuja kakšne oh in sploh turistične atrakcije. Je pa toliko lepša obala, ki ga obkroža, ter zapuščeno mesto, ki je bilo tudi eden izmed razlogov za naš obisk. Po popoldanskem raziskovanju obale, opazovanju kolonije pingvinov na bližnjem otoku, postavljanju tabora na “Shark islandu” in opazovanju igre delfinov čisto zraven kamp parcele, je sledila prava nočna zabava. Celotna obala Namibije je znana po močnem vetru, ki hitro preseže 100 km/h. Če kampiraš na tleh, je zavetje še dokaj lahko najti. Če pa imaš parkiran šotor na vrhu strehe štirikolesnika, pa postane celotna stvar precej zabavna – kar nekaj ur ponoči smo prestavljali avto in upali, da najdemo zavetje pred non stop spreminjajočo smerjo vetra.
Naslednje jutro, pred sončnim vzhodom smo se podali v notranjost in obiskali zapuščeno mesto Kolmanskop, ki velja za pravo pašo za oči. No, zaradi skoraj orkanskega vetra je bilo mesto ob našem obisku še bolj mesto duhov kot pa ponavadi. Nikjer nobenega obiskovalca, nikjer nobenega zaposlenega. Samo mi, orkanski veter in pesek vsepovsod.

The wild landscape, wind and lots and lots of sand – these are the words that describe our visit of the southern area of ​​Namibia. Areas where you can find desert landscape, interesting animals, abandoned cities and diamonds. Yes, diamonds are the main reason that people for decades have colonized and exploited this dusty part of Namibia. To Lüderitz, the largest town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, we drove for more than 5 hours. The temperature was higher from kilometer to kilometer and a few dozen kilometers from the coast we experienced a temperature record of this trip – around 45 degrees Celsius. A beautiful african autumn day. 🙂 The town of Luderitz does not offer many special tourist attractions. Much more beautiful is the coastline surrounding the town and the deserted city nearby, which was one of the reasons for our visit. After an afternoon exploring the coast, observing a colony of penguins on the nearby island, setting up the camp at the “Shark Island” and observing dolphins playing right next our camping site, we had all night wind party. The entire coast of Namibia is known for its strong wind that can quickly exceed 100 km/h. If you are camping on the ground, shelter is still quite easy to find. However, if you have a tent on the roof top of your vehicle, the whole thing becomes quite funny – a few hours during the night we were moving the car and hoped to find shelter from the non-stop changing wind.
The next morning, before sunrise, we visited the deserted city of Kolmanskop which is a real feast for the eyes. Well, due to almost hurricane wind during our visit the town was even more a ghost town than usual. There were no visitors and even no employees anywhere. Just us, hurricane wind and sand everywhere.