Kolmanskop (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

for "Coleman's peak", ) is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in the

Namib The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba Ri ...

in southern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, inland from the port town of

Lüderitz Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. Lüderitz had a population of 16,125 people in 2023. Th ...

. 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 The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...

History

Foundation and peak

In 1908, in what was then

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

, a railroad worker

Zacharias Lewala Zacharias Lewala (floruit, fl. 1908) was a Namibian worker, considered to have started a diamond rush in the area of Lüderitz in the former colony of German South West Africa, now Namibia, with his discovery of a diamond on 14 April 1908. Life L ...

found a diamond while working in this area and showed it to his supervisor, the German railway inspector

August Stauch :''This article has been translated from the German Wikipedia article.'' August Stauch (15 January 1878 – 6 May 1947) was a German prospector who discovered a diamond deposits near Lüderitz, in German South West Africa (now Namibia). August St ...

. Realizing the area was rich in diamonds, German miners settled, and soon after the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

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

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

town, with amenities and institutions including a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theatre and sport-hall, casino, ice factory and the first

x-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa. Kolmanskop had a railway link to

and was also the terminus of two private narrow-gauge electrified railway lines that served the diamond

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 la ...

further south. One ran via Pomona to Bogenfels. It was completed in 1913 but destroyed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1915 by South African troops. The other railway line, long and completed in 1920, led to Charlottental. Both were powered by a power station in Lüderitz, then assumed to be the largest in Africa.

Decline

The town started to decline during World War I when the diamond field slowly started to deplete. By the early 1920s, the area was in a severe decline. Hastening the town's demise was the discovery in 1928 of the richest diamond-bearing deposits ever known, on the beach terraces south of Kolmanskop, near the Orange River. Many of the town's inhabitants joined the rush to the south, leaving their homes and possessions behind. The new diamond find merely required scouting the beaches as opposed to more difficult mining. The town was ultimately abandoned in 1956. The geological forces of the

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 la ...

mean that tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand. Kolmanskop is popular with photographers for its settings of the desert sands reclaiming this once-thriving town, and the arid climate preserving the traditional

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 inclu ...

in the area. Due to its location within the restricted area (''Sperrgebiet'') of the Namib desert, tourists need a permit to enter the town.

In popular culture

* Kolmanskop was featured on the series ''Mysteries of the Abandoned'' episode entitled "Animal Uprising", that first aired on 18 October 2020 on the Animal Planet Channel. * Kolmanskop was used as the location for the South African TV film '' The Mantis Project'' (1987). Directed by Manie van Rensburg, produced by Paul Kemp, written by

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 se ...

, and starring

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 pl ...

and

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 So ...

. * Kolmanskop was a filming location for the 1990 South African adventure film
The Sandgrass People
'. * The town was used as one of the locations in the 1993 film ''

Dust Devil A dust devil (also known regionally as a dirt devil) is a strong, well-formed, and relatively short-lived whirlwind. Its size ranges from small (18 in/half a metre wide and a few yards/metres tall) to large (more than 30 ft/10 m ...

''. * The 2000 film '' The King Is Alive'' was filmed in Kolmanskop, with the town used as the film's main setting. * The town was featured in a 2010 episode of ''

Life After People ''Life After People'' is a television series on which scientists, mechanical engineers, and other experts speculate about what might become of planet Earth if humanity suddenly disappeared. The featured experts also talk about the impact of h ...

''. The episode focused on the effects of wind and sand on the various run-down buildings and displayed rooms that were filled with sand. * The town was used as one of the locations in the 1994 film '' Lunarcop''. * The town was used in the first episode of the BBC series ''

Wonders of the Universe ''Wonders of the Universe'' is a 2011 television series produced by the BBC, Discovery Channel, and Science Channel, hosted by physicist Professor Brian Cox. ''Wonders of the Universe'' was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two from 6 ...

'' to help explain

entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, most commonly associated with states of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the micros ...

and its effect on time. * The television series ''

Destination Truth ''Destination Truth'' is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on June 6, 2007, on Syfy. Produced by Mandt Bros. Productions and Ping Pong Productions, the program follows paranormal researcher Josh Gates around the ...

'' in one of its episodes investigated Kolmanskop, rumored to be haunted. * Tim Walker photographed

Agyness Deyn Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins, 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...

in Kolmanskop, Namibia for ''

Vogue UK ''British Vogue'' (stylised in all caps) is the British edition of the American fashion magazine Vogue. The magazine was launched in 1916 by Condé Nast, linking together fashion and high society.König A. (2006). Glossy Words: An Analysis o ...

'' in May 2011. * The 2011 non-narrative film '' Samsara'' features shots filmed in Kolmanskop. * The town featured in 2011 on season 1, episode 2 "Namibia/Bodie" of the television show ''Forgotten Planet''. * The cover of

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker (musician), Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring a ...

's fourth album, ''

The Slow Rush ''The Slow Rush'' is the fourth studio album by Tame Impala, the musical project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. It was released on 14 February 2020. It follows the 2015 album ''Currents'' and the 2019 singles "Patience" and " ...

'' and its singles were photographed at Kolmanskop by

Neil Krug Neil Krug is an American photographer. He has photographed Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, and other musicians. Biography Krug grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. He was inspired by old films and television shows. A photo essay of his on Flickr became viral. T ...

. * The music video for

George Watsky George Virden Watsky (born September 15, 1986) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, poet, author, and illustrator. Watsky broke out as a rapper with his viral video "Pale kid raps fast" in 2011, which featured his tradem ...

's "Undermine" from the ''Placement'' album was filmed in Kolmanskop. * Parts of the 2024 TV series ''Fallout'' were filmed in the area.

Literature

* Noli, Gino: ''Desert Diamonds''. Gino Noli, Plettenberg Bay 2010, .

Gallery

Abandoned building, Kolmannskuppe, Namibia.jpg, An abandoned building File:Abandonded house in Kolmanskop.png, alt=Interior of an abandoned house in Kolmanskop, Namibia, Interior of an abandoned house File:01Kolmannskuppe.jpg, The town sign of ''Kolmannskuppe'' File:Kolmannskuppe 02.jpg, Abandoned houses in Kolmanskop File:Kolmanskop.jpg, Abandoned houses File:Kolmanskop sand.jpg, After the depopulation, sand invaded the houses File:Minenverwalter Kolmannskuppe.jpg, House of the former mine manager File:Kolmanskop, Namibia (2813283661).jpg, Main view of ''Kolmannskuppe'' File:Kolmanskop Ghost Town Buildings.jpg, An aerial view of Kolmanskop File:Kolmannskuppe Eisfabrik.jpg, Ice factory File:Kolmannskuppe Schlafzimmer.jpg, Bedroom File:Kolmannskuppe Haus des Lehrers.jpg, House of the teacher File:Kolmannskuppe stamp 1912.jpg, 10

Pfennig The pfennig (; . 'pfennigs' or 'pfennige' ; currency symbol, symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former Germany, German coin or note, which was an official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valua ...

stamp with postmark ''Kolmannskuppe 19. 1. 12'' File:Kolmanskop, Namibia (3147308849).jpg, Inside Kolmanskop ballroom File:Kolmanskop near Lüderitz, Namibia (2017).jpg, Aerial view of Kolmanskop (2017) File:Kolmanskop hospital, Lüderitz (Namibia).jpg, Hospital of Kolmanskop

References

External links

* *
Kolmanskop Ghost Town, Created By The Sands Of Time – Horror World
{{Authority control Former populated places in Namibia Mining in Namibia Ghost towns in Africa Lüderitz Diamond industry 1908 establishments in German South West Africa 1956 disestablishments in South West Africa Populated places established in 1908 Populated places disestablished in 1956