Kolmanskop, a ghost town in southern Africa’s Namib Desert, is a captivating sight. Brightly colored wallpaper peels off the walls, and dilapidated houses are now inundated in rolling banks of sand. The story of Kolmanskop is as strange as the sight of the town itself. Back in 1908, a Namibian railway worker named Zacherias Lewala discovered diamonds while shoveling railroad tracks clear of creeping sand dunes. His German employer identified the stones, and soon, hordes of prospectors descended on the area. By 1912, Kolmanskop had sprung up, producing a million carats a year—11.7 percent of the world’s total diamond production. The town thrived, boasting amenities like a butcher, a baker, a post office, and even an ice factory. European opera groups even came to perform. However, Kolmanskop was also built on a legacy of colonial violence, as it was part of the struggling colony of German South West Africa. Just four years before the diamond discovery, the Namibian Herero people had rebelled against German colonizers, resulting in over 60,000 Herero deaths. Despite its wealth, Kolmanskop’s fate was sealed when even richer diamond fields were found on the beach terraces to the south. The townspeople left, abandoning their homes and possessions, and by 1956, Kolmanskop was completely abandoned. Now, the dunes reclaim the town, and tourists walk through houses knee-deep in sand, capturing eerie photographs of this once-thriving place.
