Tag Archives: Namibia

The Sheltering Desert

From Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter to David Muench, many photographers have been attracted by the desert landscape.

The main reasons that I love the desert are its simplicity, quality of light due to low humidity in the air, and the ability to get away from the masses; if only you hike a mile. The absence of vegetation reveals the underlying geological structures; the bare bones of Earth laid out in front of us.

On a recent trip, we almost got trapped because of Covid-19 travel restrictions. For a second, I considered renting a campervan (aka RV) and hiding in The Sheltering Dessert. This is the title of a book by Henno Martin (1910-1998), a German professor of geology who, along with Hermann Korn and their dog named Otto, lived for two years in the Namib desert.

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Posted in Photoessays, Travel photography, Uncategorized Also tagged , , |

Photographing Kolmanskop

Family home, Kolmanskop, Kolamanskuppe, Namibia

Kolmanskop (or Kolmannskuppe) is a ghost town in Southern Namibia, about 10 km inland from Luderitz. Once a very rich diamond-mining village, it was completely abandoned in 1954 and it is now a tourist destination, famous for its images of sand dunes forming inside the decaying buildings.

In 1908 German miners settled in this area and built the village in the architectural style of German stone houses. At its peak, the about 400 inhabitants could enjoy a rich infrastructure that included a hospital, ballroom, bowling alley, gym, school, and casino. The hospital was equipped with the first x-ray machine in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 1980 some of the buildings have been restored and the area has been opened for visitors. The gym building features a museum, a souvenir shop, and a surprisingly good cafeteria.

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Posted in Travel photography Also tagged , , |