Although both of us woke up with cramped legs and cricks in our necks, it was nice to finally wake up warm, almost too warm. Before we left, I was under the impression that it was going to be much warmer than it actually was, especially at night. Some nights it was really cold even with all my layers.
After making breakfast and converting our car back into a mode of transportation instead of bed, we went into Keetmanshoop. We walked around town for a little while and tried to get into a cool old church, but it was locked up. We got back into the car and started heading west, towards Luderitz. On the way, we passed the wild horses of the Namib, which essentially was a herd of horses that roamed free on the side of the road. It was kind of strange to see horses in the middle of the "highway."
Luderitz is right on the coast, and is a large port town. It is well known for its colonial German architecture. The town was founded in 1883 by German settlers and became one of the sites of concentration camps that were used to exterminate around three thousand native Africans. The labor from these camps helped build the city and the surrounding railroads. In 1909, diamonds were discovered and there was a subsequent diamond rush. Luderitz is on the outskirts of the main diamond mining area in Namibia. Although this area is closed to the public, we did hop a fence and tried to find some.
When we arrived in the city, the first thing we did was stop at a lighthouse. We wanted to climb around on the rocks and possibly go into the building to check out the view from the top. As we climbed the stairs to the door, however, a woman came out and told us that it was actually a private house. We apologized and left right away. Since we couldn’t go in the lighthouse, we figured the next best thing was to find a beach. We drove around the coast a little ways to Agate Beach. On the way, we stopped at a sign that said on the other side of the fence was diamond mining area and was off limits. Obviously, we wanted to get on the other side to see if we could find some diamonds. We hopped over and did a quick search, but found nothing, unfortunately. We did, however, find the beach and enjoyed the sun and surf. The weather was perfect and it was so nice to put our toes in the water, but it was a little too chilly for swimming.
We headed back into the town to find a place to stay and ended staying in a beautiful campground right on the water at the end of a point. We climbed on some of the rocks, watched the sun set and hung out for a while. After dinner, we listened to the ocean lullaby and were thankful that we could fully extend our legs.
Our "mobile" home.
There was one road that went to Luderitz. It essentially just shot off west and was straight forever.
Wild horses. It was strange to just be driving along and then all of the sudden, in the middle of a very arid environment, see a bunch of horses.
Our first view of the water!! It was beautiful. We hadn't seen that much water, beyond the jugs we used for drinking, in a few days.
The lighthouse.
We had stopped at the campground we ended up staying in earlier in the day. This was the view of the campground. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever slept.
We did read the sign...but the temptation was just too great.
A diamond? Nope, just a rock.
Neil, the pensive diamond hunter.
Our tent site.
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