5 January – Luderitz, Namibia

Today a short drive from Aus to Luderitz but a very special one. We slept in Aus on an excellent campsite but with a lot of noise. There was a concert in the vicinity until 5 o’clock in the morning. Logical that the Namibians do this in the night because during the day you will be roasted here but it was noisy. When they were finally finished, the roadworkers started! So we didn’t have a lot of sleep.

Aus is at 1500 m altitude and Luderitz is located at the sea and therefore at 0 m altitude. That meant that, in about 120 km, we had to descend 1500 m and this went through a landscape that is not to be described easily. The color changes from red to yellow and sometimes to black. There are rocks and then again sand hills followed by large black stones. Sometimes the sand comes down the road, like snow in the mountains. Several meters of sand hills are next to the road, and they are pushed back into the desert by diligent workers. The road is beautiful with a railway line next to it. South of Luderitz diamonds are found and so there is a need for transport. We saw Oryx (Spiesbokken) and wild horses on the way. There is a large flock of those animals who survive the desert with the little grass there is.

Because of the diamond extraction, you may not leave the road though I do not see how you could do this. It is truly a completely abandoned and very hostile landscape.

We were far too early in Luderitz but did shipping and had lunch. Then we drove to Diaz point. Here the Portuguese Diaz landed several centuries ago. The wind was pretty hard and so we had to hang on to the lookout point. There we saw how a ship was working on diamond mining. We also spotted flamingo’s and shipwrecks

Luderitz also has some windmills and that should work fine here. There is a wind force 6-7 here about all year round.

Because of this wind expectation we sleep in a lodge (Cormorant House) with sea view and balcony. Tomorrow we will walk through the village.