just after eight or so in the morning we're leaving
ais ais now today we're going to luderitz it's about 560 odd kilometers from here there's no
diesel here i haven't got enough diesel to get to luderitz so let's hope that we can get some
along the way they tell me that canyon roadhouse has diesel let's hope so we'll see you there
we've just filled up with diesel here at the cannon roadhouse you can see
it's completely deserted without any people here guy that filled us up said that normally
this place would be this parking area would be full there's a campsite behind there that would
be full cars would be lined up for diesel so that's what's "you know what" has done to this
place i don't mind not having a lot of people but for a business i don't see how it's sustainable
stopped here at naute dam
but the only bit of water we've seen even the fish river didn't have much water you
probably can't see it on this video but there's vines so there's grapes and a lot of date palms
okay so his name is omaruru say hello to the camera
so this bar is a little bit different
namibia is very much place where hunting happens
this is such a cool place it's kind of hotel california this is
song this is kind of what springs to mind
from where we joined the paved road near seeheim it's 300 kilometers
to luderitz but we stopped off at the little village of aus
although it may sound of german origin the name actually comes from the nama language and means
snake fountain it's actually not a bad little village and a good spot to top up with fuel
a little way beyond us on the way to luderitz it's well worth a stop to view the feral horses of the
namib they are thought to have originated from the german army who retreated after the
first world war and let their horses loose and they've adapted to life in this harsh environment
garub which means leopard in the nama language was an important water stopped on the railway
line between keetmanshoop and luderitz in the early part of the 20th century it was also
the scene of a lot of fighting in 1915 between the german forces and the allies sadly it's been
vandalized since then but it's still a very cool place to stop and imagine it's past glory days
although bartolomeu diaz landed in luderitz bay in 1487 the town was only established in 1883 by
adolf luderitz who hailed from bremen in germany and the german architecture is very
much still in evidence it went through a stage of great prosperity in the early 20th century
with the discovery of diamonds but from the 1920s onwards went into a bit of decline main industry
there now is fishing and tourism i'll put a link in the description for more information
in 1908 a railway worker by the name of zacharias lawala found a shiny stone
and showed it to his supervisor august stauch stauch recognized it for what it was
a diamond and by 1912 kolmanskop was producing 12 per cent of the world's diamonds
it was a wealthy town in the desert and it had electricity before most cities in europe
didn't last long though by 1928 when diamonds were discovered further south at oranjemund
the town went into decline and by the early 1950s it was abandoned completely
they call it a ghost town i didn't see any ghosts but it certainly is spooky walking through the
abandoned houses and there was nobody else there on the day i was i was there completely alone
the town had a fully equipped hospital and with the first x-ray unit in the southern
hemisphere it's a really eerie experience walking down those deserted corridors
it's a bit of a trek about 20 kilometers from luderitz town to diaz point but well worth it
it's a bleak windswept inhospitable place but it's got incredible character it's worth clambering
across the rocks to the site of the original cross that bartolomeu diaz erected in 1488
i don't know if that is the original rock but there's an inscription on there
there is a campsite at the point and a little restaurant which was closed when we were there if
time allows i can recommend taking the long route through grosse bucht excuse my pronunciation german
speakers it's a very cool drive over the dunes and there's lots of little hidden bays the road's a
little corrugated but you don't need a 4x4 to do it your sedan car will be able to make it
we're heading off to elizabeth bay this morning namib off-road excursions this is heinz so this is
the entrance to the restricted area elizabeth bay is down this way so it is an actual working mine
being a working diamond mine it's necessary to go to elizabeth bay with a guide and to be honest
in this case it's worth it i'm not normally a guided tour kind of guy but you learn so much
about the place and the history that you just wouldn't know otherwise the laborers lived in
cramped almost slave-like conditions sleeping in tiny cubicles one on top
of the other and the doors and windows were locked at night so that they couldn't escape
i would say elizabeth bay is more of an industrial decay kind of place where you can walk through the
abandoned processing plant with its tunnels and giant rusting machinery
walking around the residential area of elizabeth bay it's quite clear that kolmanskop
is kind of a lot more maintained and i think it's probably deliberately
kept that way for the tourist value this place has really been left to just decay think about
the lives that happened here mining operation lasted for nine years by 1935 it was gone
there's so much to the place i'll do a full length video on elizabeth bay
in the coming weeks coming up next though sossusvlei
definitely one of my favorite places in the world i'll catch you there next sunday