Lüderitz District
The Fish River Canyon was the most southern point of our trip. We now drove northwest towards Aus or Klein-Aus Vista. We wanted to stay there for four nights to slow down a bit and to relax in between. In addition, this place is perfect for day trips to Lüderitz and Kolmanskop. Luckily, you can see the wild horses of Garub on the way, which have adapted to life in the desert.
We stayed three nights at the Klein-Aus Vista campsite and one night at “Eagles Nest”. This is a collection of small cottages built into the rock.
Sightseeing at Kolmanskop
We combined the diamond town of Lüderitz with a visit to the ghost town of Kolmanskop. There is an option to get a photo permit. This allows you to stay in Kolmanskop outside of normal visiting hours and explore the ghost town in the best light. We did without, as Sonja had slightly upset her stomach the night before and suffered from stomach pains.
The tour was exciting. It was very impressive to hear about the possibilities that were already available at the end of the 19th century and how luxury this city in the middle of the desert was equipped. Besides an ice factory there was an own slaughterhouse with cold storage. Furthermore, there were countless cultural facilities, a casino, a bowling alley, a concert hall with unbelievable acoustics, sports equipment, etc.
In the best year, the yield in the diamond mine was 5 million carats. An incredible number. Today, the diamond mine around still yields about 20,000 carats /per year.
The wild horses of Garub
We were not really interested in Lüderitz. We therefore took the opportunity to refill our supplies and then made our way back to Aus. Around the wild horses we had the luck to see a small group of four animals directly along the road. We made a detour to the view point at Garub (built at a watering hole for horse watching) and saw a single horse there as well.
These horses can go up to six days without water – in comparison “normal” horses die if they don’t get water for more than 3 days. Evolution is fascinating. Watching the animals had something slowing down, and we enjoyed the fact that we were lucky to meet these special animals three times in total.
Two of the four days in Klein-Aus Vista we were reading, sitting in the nature and watching the cheeky weaver birds. For the first time I could use the 700 mm telephoto focal length at my disposal 🙂
I like the results – I’m looking forward to using them in the wildlife of Botswana.
