- Where
- Namib desert, 10 km inland
from Lüderitz, southern Namibia - Coordinates
- 26.7041° S
15.2324° E - First diamond
- April 1908
(Zacharias Lewala) - Abandoned
- 1956
- Run by
- Namdeb
(Namibian government and De Beers) - Entry
- Permit (ticket) at the site
guided tour included - Advisory
- Namibia Level 2
Wind shoving at my back up a ridge of sand to a row of tall gabled houses, their paint faded to sugared-almond colours. Inside, the sand had got there first: a drift lay across a bedroom floor and halfway up the stairs, smooth as poured cream, with the wallpaper still on. I wiped my feet at the door from habit, felt silly, and did it again at the next house.
The short answer
Kolmanskop (in German, Kolmannskuppe) is a ghost town in the Namib desert in southern Namibia, 10 km inland from the port of Lüderitz. By Wikipedia’s account the name, Afrikaans for “Coleman’s hill”, comes from a transport driver, Johnny Coleman, who abandoned his ox wagon on a small rise opposite the settlement during a sandstorm. It was built as a diamond-mining town from 1908, in what was then German South West Africa, declined after the First World War and was abandoned in 1956. Namdeb, a company owned jointly by the Namibian government and De Beers, runs it today as a tourist site, and visitors walk through houses where the sand lies knee-deep.
Why it's worth knowing
Kolmanskop’s story usually begins with a German, and Wikipedia’s own article on its finder points out why. In April 1908 Zacharias Lewala, a railway worker who had learned to recognise rough diamonds in the mines at Kimberley, was keeping the Lüderitz–Aus line clear of drifting sand near Grasplatz when he picked up several stones he suspected were diamonds. He handed them to his supervisor, the railway inspector August Stauch, with words Wikipedia records as “Look, Mister, moy Klip”, a beautiful stone. Wikipedia’s two articles date the find to 10 April and 14 April. Stauch had the stones tested, quietly secured a claim at Kolmanskop with the mining engineer Sönke Nissen, and became very rich; Germany declared most of the southern coast a Sperrgebiet, a forbidden zone, to control the rush.
Lewala got nothing. Wikipedia’s article on him notes how little is known about him, because histories, and tourist literature especially, have been more interested in Stauch, whose life is better documented. It quotes the writer Zora del Buono in Der Spiegel: Lewala’s name entered history but not much more; no one paid him for the find or showed any kind of gratitude.
The field notes
Ice in the desert
The miners built the town as a German town. Namibia’s newspaper The Namibian lists a ballroom, power station, school, skittle alley, theatre and sports hall, casino, ice factory, bakery and butcher’s shop, and a hospital with the first X-ray facility in the southern hemisphere. Building materials, food, clothes and furnishings came from Germany. The town’s tram, which The Namibian calls the first in Africa, delivered a case of soda water, a case of lemonade and a block of ice to each household daily, free; the melted ice was caught and used again.
The sand comes in
The diamond field near the town was running out by the end of the First World War. In 1928, Wikipedia records, far richer deposits were found on the beach terraces near the mouth of the Orange River, about 270 km to the south, and many residents joined the rush there, leaving homes and possessions behind. The town was abandoned in 1956. The wind has since driven the desert into its houses, drifting through doors and windows and up the stairs, and Wikipedia notes that rare brown hyenas shelter in the buildings. The Namibian says some structures have been partly restored.
The railway and the island
The diamond was found beside a railway, and that railway has its own history. Wikipedia’s article on Lüderitz records that the line inland, completed in 1908, was built by inmates of the concentration camp on Shark Island, at the edge of Lüderitz harbour. The camp operated from 1905 to 1907, during the German colonial war against the Herero and Nama peoples, and between 1,000 and 3,000 Herero and Nama people died there, by the historians Wikipedia cites, from the conditions of forced labour.
Kolmanskop's houses along their sandy ridge, near Lüderitz. The town was abandoned in 1956.
Photograph: Johan Jönsson · CC BY-SA 4.0
Inside the ice factory, where the town made the ice its tram delivered free to every household each day.
Photograph: Olga Ernst · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Through empty window frames, the Namib runs flat to the mountains.
Photograph: Ralf Hüsges · CC BY 4.0 · cropped
The town on its ridge above the desert, seen from the flats.
Photograph: Sonse · Ghost Town Kolmanskop (37051075143) · CC BY 2.0
Kolmanskop from the air: the town's streets laid out in the sand.
Photograph: Olga Ernst & Hp.Baumeler · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
- Come for the first tour of the morning, while the light is low and the wind has not yet made up its mind.
- Learn the name of the railwayman who picked up the first stone, and say it out loud somewhere in the town.
- Keep out of the rooms with signs on the doors, however good the light looks inside.
- Stay a night in the port down the road. Before you look for supper, read about the island at the edge of its harbour, and keep a quiet hour for it.
- Keep the list in a zipped pocket. I left mine open on a windowsill for one minute, and the sand has written several new items in it that I cannot make out.
The ice factory. A plain building on the edge of the town where the diamond company made ice, so that each household in a town in the Namib could have a block of it brought to the door every day, free, on the tram, with a case of soda water and a case of lemonade. The meltwater was caught and used again. The ice and the tram are long gone and the sand has come in, but the building still stands among the houses.
Tally, in the marginThe plainest building in the town, and I walked past it twice on the way to the grand ones. It was the one I went back to, to stand in the doorway and imagine the cold.
Getting there
How to get there. Lüderitz is at the end of the B4 road from Keetmanshoop, and Kolmanskop is just off the B4, about 15 minutes’ drive from the town, according to Lonely Planet.
Tickets and tours. Because the town lies within the former Sperrgebiet, entry is by a permit, which works as an ordinary ticket: Lonely Planet and Wikivoyage describe it being sold at the gate, or in advance in Lüderitz, with a guided tour in English or German included, leaving from the museum building in the morning. Photographers can arrange longer permits for the early light. Check current times before you go.
When to go. Any time of year; the morning tour gives the low light. Stay in Lüderitz, a small port with its own colonial buildings.
Safety. The State Department has Namibia at Level 2, exercise increased caution, for crime and health, with no area-specific warnings. It notes that crimes of opportunity are common, including smash-and-grab theft from parked cars, that visitors to remote areas are far from medical help, and that drivers should keep doors locked and be cautious of people asking for help by the roadside. At the site, keep to the open buildings and out of the surrounding restricted diamond area.
Mark this place
Common questions
Who found the first diamond at Kolmanskop?
Zacharias Lewala, a railway worker who had worked in the Kimberley diamond mines, picked up the first diamonds near Grasplatz, east of Lüderitz in Namibia, in April 1908 and handed them to his supervisor, August Stauch. Stauch secured a claim at Kolmanskop and grew rich; Lewala, by Wikipedia’s account, was never paid for the find.
Why was Kolmanskop abandoned?
Kolmanskop declined after the First World War as its diamond field ran out. Richer deposits found in 1928 near the Orange River, about 270 km south, drew many residents away, according to Wikipedia, and the town in Namibia’s Namib desert was finally abandoned in 1956.
Do you need a permit to visit Kolmanskop?
Yes, because Kolmanskop lies inside Namibia’s former Sperrgebiet, the restricted diamond area, but the permit is sold like an ordinary ticket: at the gate or in advance in Lüderitz, according to Lonely Planet and Wikivoyage, with a guided tour in English or German included.
What was in Kolmanskop when people lived there?
Kolmanskop, the diamond town near Lüderitz in Namibia, had a ballroom, theatre, casino, school, skittle alley, ice factory and a hospital with the first X-ray facility in the southern hemisphere, according to The Namibian. Its tram delivered free ice, soda water and lemonade to each household every day.
Who runs Kolmanskop today?
Kolmanskop in southern Namibia is run as a tourist site by Namdeb, a company owned jointly by the Namibian government and De Beers, according to Wikipedia. Visits are by permit, with a guided tour of the town’s sand-filled houses, ballroom and hospital.
Why is Kolmanskop full of sand?
Kolmanskop stands in the Namib desert, and since its residents left in 1956 the wind has driven sand through the doors and windows of its houses. Wikipedia describes visitors walking through rooms knee-deep in sand, with the dry climate preserving the Edwardian buildings.
What does the name Kolmanskop mean?
Kolmanskop is Afrikaans for “Coleman’s hill” (German Kolmannskuppe). By Wikipedia’s account it is named after Johnny Coleman, a transport driver who abandoned his ox wagon on a small rise opposite the settlement during a sandstorm.
Is Namibia safe to visit?
The U.S. State Department has Namibia at Level 2, exercise increased caution, for crime and health, with no area-specific warnings (advisory dated 15 May 2026). It notes common crimes of opportunity, such as theft from parked cars, and limited medical care in remote areas.