words from the world

Lüderitz crystallizes the past, the present and the future of Namibia. A town founded by the German colonists when a diamonds deposit was found at the beginning of the century. The WWI German surrender leads to the colonists' expropriation and the country was put under the South Africa supervision before the country takes flight with the independence proclamation in 1990 what makes Namibia one of the youngest country in Africa. Lüderitz divides between the port activity – raw material freight like zinc intended to the countries of the northern hemisphere – and the diamond-mining. Around the city, a huge, forbidden area stretches where only the Namdeb company imposes its authority. Half of this company belongs to the Namibian government the other one to the undisputed diamond-business-leader De Beers firm.
To understand the universe of these precious stones, we go to the ghost city of Kolmanskop. Around the village the first Namibian diamond was found ; the Germans quickly besieged the place and the Kolmanskop tiny hamlet popped out of the ground. The village frenziedly lived a few years until the diamonds deposit dried up and new spots were discovered southwards. The houses were abandoned and the area became uninhabited. Thus, the life goes at the diamond kingdom and its diggers that follow the vein.





In the afternoon, we visit the coastal landscapes in the surroundings of Lüderitz. Desert beaches, black rock and a seal colony that lounge on a stony islet.




Back from our stroll, we seize shovel and mattock to turn over the sand of Agatha Beach. But that's not ground-buried diamonds we find here but modest sand roses. Andrès, from the tourist office, teaches us how to dig out these natural curiosities that, as soon as we discover them become our jewels. You need to scratch the sand then when the salt traces appears, we delicately delimit the hard « zone » before getting it out. A dash of water to clean the rock and sand mixture and the petals of the silica rose starts to glisten in the beams of the sunset. Happy, we go back with our fragile booty which stretches at the rear window shelf of the car.