Kolmanskop, or Coleman’s Hill, was once a small mining settlement located in the Namib Desert in southern Namibia. The settlement’s name comes from a transport driver named Johnny Coleman, who left his ox wagon on a small hill opposite the settlement. In 1908, when one of the miners discovered a large diamond, people rushed to the Namib Desert in hopes of making a fortune. Within two years, Kolmanskop grew from a small settlement to a thriving town, equipped with a hospital, theater, school, ice factory, residential buildings, casino, and the first tram in Africa.
Welcome to Kolmanskop.
Unfortunately, the diamond-fields of Kolmanskop were exhausted roughly around the end of World War I, leading to a swift decline in residents. In 1954, the town was completely abandoned.
Kolmanskop's decline.
Due to the geological placement of the town, almost every house has become infested with knee-deep sand. Kolmanskop has become a very popular tourist attraction, and there are a few vigilant photographers who brave the journey out to Kolmanskop to get a picture of the deserts’ consumption of this once thriving town.
Inside a Kolmanskop house.
Another house.
Nowadays, very little remains of the once booming town of Kolmanskop. There are no streets, no gardens, no people, and even most of the buildings have felt the degradation of age. This is truly a ghost town.
Come back tomorrow for another ghost town.
Love hearing about and seeing pictures of Ghost Towns. Looking forward to tomorrow.
Wow, that’s actually kind of beautiful in a haunting, scary way!