Lüderitz was without doubt worth visiting, but Karo really wondered, WHY on Earth the Germans decided to build a town in the middle of the Namib desert. For many years, the only access to Lüderitz was the sea and that’s how the Germans actually arrived. Today there is a road as well, which goes straight through the Namib desert. The next small settlement 130 km away. Apart from the harsh desert, Lüderitz is known for its brutal winds, which are loved by kite-surfers, but feared and disliked by everybody else. Apart from fish and oysters everything has to be brought to Lüderitz. There is absolutely nothing growing. Luckily, the Germans also discovered an underground lake in the desert, which is Lüderitz’ source of water. Karo really wondered WHY someone would start a settlement out here, unless that someone is a challenge-seeking adventurer or a quiet-seeking eremit, but the answer was somewhere else. The water around Lüderitz is rich in fish and on shore there were huge amounts of guano (dung from seabirds), which during that time, was a highly wanted ressource. From the guano nothing is left, the ressources have been depleted, but it wouldn’t be of interest anymore anyhow, since synthetic fertilizers have been invented. But that’s not everything. That was only how Lüderitz started. The real boom came a few years later, when diamonds were found …
Karo's Journey 