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Lüderitz
350 km tarred road after Keetmanshoop, driving along the Namib desert, you arrive the small town Lüderitz,
named after an inhabitant of Bremen, the businessman Adolf Lüderitz. Today the town has 20,000 inhabitants
and counts as a founder's town of Namibia. Especially conspicuously are the colored renovated buildings,
in the Art Noveau and in the "wilhelminischen" style, from the colonial age. Diamond mining, fishing and the
tourism belong to the main sources of income.
After our arrival in Lüderitz we had to look at first for an accomodation and tried it on the peninsula Shark
Island in the national Resort. Unfortunately all bungalows were fully bookd and for camping this place is
not really suitable. The tent would fly away in this stormy sea wind . As an alternative we stayed this one
night in the pension Waterkant, the inhabitants are an elder married couple.
With a following walk through
Lüderitz we could experience a breath of the past. The old colored buildings with the inscription "Leesesaal"
or "Turnhalle" remind at Germany to the turn of the century. Especially worth seeing is the Felsenkirche
constructed after Eisenacher guidelines, which is situated high on a rock above the town. A good example
for Art Noveau is the blue-yellow painted Goerke house few meters below the Felsenkirche. It's as a hostel
for prominent guests and can be visited during the day. If one stands on the hill with the Felsenkirche and
have a look about the colored small town with the adjoining life-hostile wild areas, the scene appear quite
bizzare.
Because the town is opened on foot relatively fast, we undertook an excursion to the Agathe Beach to the
sundown. On the drive in the direction of Agathe Beach one passes the the less gorgeous small houses of
the black population beyond of the town, as well as a little brackish water sea with flamingos looking for
food. The Agathe Beach is a long-stretched sand beach in which sand roses (with permission) can be collected.
At the first sight it invites to bathing. With temperatures from mostly under 18 ° C one keeps back.
For dinner we went to the nest hotel. Particulary fish dishes are very advisable here as well as later in
Swakopmund.
For the next morning the elder lady of the pension Waterkant has get for us a sail journey on the sailing
ship Sedina. The journey was accompanied occasional, by 3 Benguela dolphins an led us past Shark Island
to Halifax Iceland to the habitat of the african penguins. Unfortunately, one cannot go ashore and must
shoot the photos relatively far away from the bank. The excursion is quite long and anyway worth one's salt,
indeed, the strong waves and stormy wind was only something for adventurous nature. Sometimes it was to
be become really uncomfortable.
At the afternoons we still visited the ghost town Kolmanskuppe, some kilometers outside from Lüderitz.
It is not necessary to book a guided tour. One can pay also at the entrance and explore everything on
foot. Due to the dry dessert clime, the old houses are still rather well-preserved, even if the dunes
to themselves recapture her their old terrain bit by bit. Well-preserved are also the casino, kitchen and
gymnasium. There is among other things a house for the teacher and for further important personalities of
the life at this time in the town.
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