The ghost town Kolmanskop is located ten kilometres from the town of Lüderitz. In 1908, railway worker Zacharius Lewala found a sparkling stone in the sand near the railway. His find was the beginning of the Kolmanskop diamond fever. Over the next decade, Kolmanskop became a lively European town, a little paradise of German culture. Big beautiful houses, a school, a stadium, a swimming pool were built. The well-equipped hospital boasted Africa's first X-ray machine. The discovery of new, richer diamond deposits put an end to the city's prosperity. People left and the desert inexorably began to encroach on the city. In 1980, some of the buildings were restored and Kolmanskop found a new life, but now as a museum.
