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Kolmanskop, Namibia
Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for "Coleman's peak", ) is a ghost town in the Namib in southern Namibia, inland from the port town of Lüderitz. It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman who, during a sand storm, abandoned his ox wagon on a small incline opposite the settlement. Once a small but very rich mining village, it is now a popular tourist destination run by Namdeb, a joint firm owned by the Namibian government and De Beers. History Foundation and peak In 1908, in what was then German South-West Africa, a railroad worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working in this area and showed it to his supervisor, the German railway inspector August Stauch. Realizing the area was rich in diamonds, German miners settled, and soon after the German Empire declared a large area as a "'' Sperrgebiet''", starting to exploit the diamond field. Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative status, or historical significance. In some regions, towns are formally defined by legal charters or government designations, while in others, the term is used informally. Towns typically feature centralized services, infrastructure, and governance, such as municipal authorities, and serve as hubs for commerce, education, and cultural activities within their regions. The concept of a town varies culturally and legally. For example, in the United Kingdom, a town may historically derive its status from a market town designation or City status in the United Kingdom, royal charter, while in the United States, the term is often loosely applied to incorporated municipality, municipalities. In some countries, such as Australia and Canada, distinction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining Industry
Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. The ore must be a rock or mineral that contains valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, and final reclamation or restoration of the land after the mine is closed. Mining materials are often obtained from ore bodies, lodes, veins, seams, reefs, or placer deposits. The exploit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The King Is Alive
''The King Is Alive'' is a 2000 English-language Danish drama film directed by Kristian Levring, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Davison, David Bradley, Janet McTeer, David Calder, and Brion James in his final feature film appearance. The fourth film to be done according to the Dogme 95 rules, it was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Plot A group of tourists are stranded in the Namibian desert when their bus loses its way and runs out of fuel. Canned carrots and dew keep the tourists alive, but they are helplessly entrapped, completely cut off from the rest of the world. As courage and moral fibre weaken and relationships grow shaky, Henry, a theatrical manager, persuades the group to put on Shakespeare's tragedy ''King Lear''. As the tourists work their way through Henry's hand-written scripts for an audience of only the sand dunes and one distant, indigenous watcher, real life increasingly begins to resemble the play. Cast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dust Devil (1993 Film)
''Dust Devil'' is a 1992 British horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley. The film stars Robert Burke as Hitch, a mysterious man who wanders the deserts in Namibia and is wanted by the police in connection with the death of a woman whose blood was used in a supernatural ceremony. It is believed by a local sangoma that Hitch is a "Dust Devil", a supernatural creature that can change its form. Hitch encounters Wendy played by Chelsea Field, who drives with him along a highway as she is pursued by her estranged husband. As police begin investigating the murders, they seem to trace back to Hitch and Wendy discovers the man has supernatural powers. ''Dust Devil'' was shot in Namibia after March 1990, when Stanley presented his script to producer JoAnne Sellar, whom he had previously worked with on his first film ''Hardware''. Sellar was able to secure 2.8 million pounds for ''Dust Devil''. The script was then sent to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandra Prinsloo
Sandra Prinsloo (born 15 September 1947), also known as Sandra Prinzlow, is a South African actress best known internationally for her role as Kate Thompson in the 1980 film '' The Gods Must Be Crazy''. Prinsloo has also appeared in numerous South African television, film, and stage productions. Early life and career Prinsloo has stated that she never expected to become an actress."Behind the Icon – Leading Lady: Sandra Prinsloo" News 24. 21 December 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2015. "I was a ballet dancer from a very early age and I remember that I occasionally ushered at the Breytenbach Theatre in Pretoria when I was in high school. That’s the first time I came into contact with professional stage acting, but I never thought I’d be an actress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marius Weyers
Marius Weyers (born 3 February 1945, in Johannesburg) is a South African actor. He was married to Yvette Weyers (1946-2023), an artist, who died on 11 July 2023. He lives in Rooi-Els in the Western Cape. He received international attention playing Andrew Steyn, a bumbling scientist in the movie '' The Gods Must Be Crazy'' (1980). He appeared in ''Blood Diamond'' (2006). Selected filmography * 1967 '' Love Nights in the Taiga'' as Markjoff * 1970 '' Stop Exchange'' as Attie. * 1974 '' No Gold for a Dead Diver'' as Rene Chagrin * 1977 '' Target of an Assassin'' as Colonel Pahler * 1980 '' The Gods Must Be Crazy'' as Andrew Steyn * 1982 ''Gandhi'' as Train Conductor * 1988 '' Thieves of Fortune'' as Unknown * 1989 '' DeepStar Six'' as Dr. John Van Gelder * 1989 '' Farewell to the King'' as Sergeant Conklin * 1989 '' Happy Together'' as Denny Dollenbacher * 1989 ''Jewel of the Gods'' as Snowy Grinder * 1992 '' The Power of One'' as Professor Daniel Marais * 1992 Golden Girls as D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cundill
John Cundill (1936–2016) was a South African born television scriptwriter, playwright, journalist and actor. He is best known in South Africa as the television scriptwriter for ''The Villagers'' and ''Westgate'' series. He would later write several screenplays for Australian films and television shows. Early life Cundill was born on 30 May 1936 in Germiston, South Africa. His father, Algy Cundill was a mine manager at a large mine owned by Gold Fields. He would be educated at St John's College, Johannesburg, St John's College in Houghton Estate, Houghton, Johannesburg. After high school, he attended the University of Cape Town where he wanted to study drama, but on his father's insistence, obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. Career Before becoming a journalist, he appeared on stage in Cape Town in ''Doctor in the House'' with Nigel Hawthorne in 1958. By 1963, he had joined the Johannesburg-based newspaper, ''The Star (South Africa), The Star'', and would also serve as their fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mantis Project
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwardian Architecture
Edwardian architecture usually refers to a Baroque Revival architecture, Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular for public buildings in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to 1914 is commonly included in this style. It can also be used to mean various styles in middle-class housing, including relaxed versions of Arts and Crafts architecture. Description Edwardian architecture is generally less ornate than high or late Victorian architecture, apart from a subset – used for major buildings – known as Edwardian Baroque architecture. The Victorian Society campaigns to preserve architecture built between 1837 and 1914, and so includes Edwardian as well as Victorian architecture within its remit. Characteristics The characteristic features of the Edwardian Baroque style were drawn from two main sources: the architecture of France during the 18th century and that of Sir Christopher Wren in England during the 17th—part of the E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert
A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or Semi-arid climate, semi-arid. This includes much of the Polar regions of Earth, polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location. Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night strain the Rock (geology), rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter, and the resulting frag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Of South Africa
The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Transvaal Colony, Transvaal, and Orange River Colony, Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Following World War I, the Union of South Africa was a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles and became one of the Member states of the League of Nations, founding members of the League of Nations. It was League of Nations mandate, mandated by the League with the administration of South West Africa (now known as Namibia). South West Africa became treated in most respects as another province of the Union, but it never was formally annexed. The Union of South Africa was a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. Its full sovereignty was confirmed with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
