26-28/6 Luderitz, ghost towns and the wild horses of the Namib desert

After picking up my Norwegian friend Birgitte in Windhoek we took the only public transport available in Namibia - the minibus - to the south of the country and the coastal town Luderitz. The small town is situated right in the middle of nowhere, with arid and harsh desert on the one side and the ocean on the other.

Not far from Luderitz lies Kolmanskop, once the major mining town in Namibia with over 1000 inhabitants and now a ghost town and quiet reminder of the past. The houses are slowly filled with the sand from the adjacent desert and the vast surroundings are harsh but beautiful. The silence is compact and the only sound is the wind and some birds. How they survive in that environment is for me a mystery. The only vegetation are some plants with waterfilled leaves and dry grass. It is truly a remarkable place, quietly telling the story about the hopes and dreams of the families once living here.


As we went on to the south of Namibia we passed the wild horses of the Namib desert. It is almost hard to beleive when you see horses where there should be no life, but the horses originally from the beginning of the last century are well adapted to the environment and a beautiful contrast to the arid background.