vango

Our stop for Thursday was the little town of Lüderitz. It is located in southwest Namibia beside Robert Harbour and Shark Island. It was named for Adolph Lüderitz. This German purchased land in what the Portuguese had named Small Bay in 1883. When Mr. Lüderitz didn't come back from an expedition up the Orange river the town was renamed in his honor. Many of the buildings have an Art Deco influence including the train station built in 1904. In 1905 the Germans created a concentration camp for native tribes on shark island where they exterminated thousands. In 1909 diamonds were found and there was a diamond rush. There are still tours of the now abandon Kolmanskop. It became part of German South-West Africa in 1915.





At the top of the hill is Felsenkirche (English: Rock Church) on Diamond Hill. The church in vertical gothic style was consecrated in 1912. Many buildings date from the first decade of the 1900s
We arrived at this pretty little harbor around 9 am and backed into a spot at the pier which is in the center of town. It is a very walkable place. There are a few shops, four banks and a few other businesses. I found the train station when no longer receives trains. There are a few things to see but I had a mission. I had to find a part to fix Ron's boot. I visited three hardware stores in town. I didn't find a suitable part and we came up with a solution that we could get from the ship's electrical department. This adventure gave me quite a different few than the rest of the passengers. While we were in town there was a power failure which caused problems for the stores. Fortunately the souvenir shop could take American Dollars because I didn't have any Namibian Rands.





Namibia currency is called the Rand just like those in South Africa. The two currencies are valued the same and stores in Namibia will take either one. South Africa is more choosy and will not take Namibia Rands so it is just as well that I didn't have to get any.










Part of the afternoon in Lüderitz was taken up with Immigration. We had to have a “face to face” exit interview with the extra paperwork before we could sail.