Lüderitz

Lüderitz sits on a rocky bay where the Namib meets the cold Atlantic, and the town is a strange transplant: pastel art nouveau and Jugendstil houses built by German colonists in the 1900s during a diamond rush, standing on bare rock with sand blowing between them. The Goerke Haus and the Felsenkirche on the hill above are the best examples. Wind is more or less constant. On the peninsula outside town, Diaz Point carries a replica of the cross set up by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, and there are flamingo lagoons and colonies of seals and penguins along the shore. On the road in, the feral horses of the Namib graze the plains near Garub, descendants of stock left behind more than a century ago.

History

Bartolomeu Dias came upon the bay in 1487, named it Angra Pequena, "small bay", and set up a stone cross on the southern peninsula. Whaling, sealing, fishing and guano trading followed in the 19th century, and the town was founded in 1883 when Heinrich Vogelsang bought Angra Pequena from the Nama chief Josef Frederiks II on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz (Wikipedia, Lüderitz).

The main sights

• The colonial architecture - Jugendstil houses, the Felsenkirche and Goerke Haus.
• Diaz Point - the cross replica, seals and a wind-blasted headland.
• The Garub wild horses - feral desert horses at the waterhole on the approach road.
• Agate Beach - a long empty strand north of town.

When to go

April to October for the least ferocious wind, though wind is a constant here in every season. Coastal fog rolls in most mornings and burns off by midday. Summer inland is hot but Lüderitz itself stays cool.

Before you go

It is a very long drive to reach, through empty desert, and the town is small enough to see in half a day. The wind is genuinely relentless and grinds people down. Much of the surrounding coast is inside the restricted diamond area and cannot be entered without a permit. Kolmanskop requires a permit and has set tour times.

Nearby

Kolmanskop ghost town is ten minutes away; Fish River Canyon lies southeast.

Key facts