7 January – Luderitz continued

What were we lazy yesterday! We walked to the center of the village yesterday and now we know why my parents called this place boring. There is little to do, especially on Sundays when everything is closed except for the supermarket. Eventually we found a place where we could have lunch.

To the north of Luderitz everything comes to a stop quite fast because there is sand, lots of sand. By car we could drive about 15 km to the north to Agate beach where Lisa collected stones again (how do I get rid of these the coming months) on the beach.

Luderitz was founded (1883) by a German merchant, Adolf Luderitz after it was ‘discovered’ years earlier (1487) by the Portuguese, who called the small inlet (Angra Pequena). He used this port for trade. In the early 20th century, diamonds were found, and the whole area between Luderitz and South Africa was declared a forbidden area by the German authority in Namibia. When later South Africa conquered Namibia (just after WW I) the authority came into the hands of De Beers. Only since the nineties of the last century is the control again, partly, in the hands of the Namibian government and they are busy to give it the status of National park. It is an area of the size of Belgium by the way.

On Shark Island, where we sleep now, there was a concentration camp hundred years ago where the German authority Nama’s, both men, women and children, was locked up. For those who want to know more about this terrible history, you need to search the internet for the Namibian genocide.

On the island there is a small memorial which reminds of this.  Concentration camps were invented by the English, during the Boer Wars in South Africa at the end of the 19th century, to lock up the women and children of the Boeren so that they had no ‘ home ‘ anymore.

Tomorrow we drive towards the east. Where we do not know yet.