Namibia

In terms of section 52 of the Diamond Act 13/1999, no entry is allowed into this area without a valid restricted area permit.

Any person failing to comply with this legal requirement shall be guilty of an offence and may, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding N$1000 000-00 or imprisonment of a period not exceeding two years or both such fine and such imprisonment.

The rocky port of Luderitz attracted white settlers, diamond prospectors, and rock lobster fishermen.

The town was founded in 1883 when a German named Heinrich Vogelsang purchased the land on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz, from the local Nama chief. Lüderitz began its life as a trading post, with other activities in fishing and guano-harvesting. In 1909, after the discovery of diamonds nearby, Lüderitz enjoyed a sudden surge of prosperity.

As we sailed into the lagoon of Luderitz Harbor, we passed a colony of flamingos feeding on the nutrient rich waters fed by the Benguela Currents that sweep up from the colder latitudes near Antarctica. Foreboding dunes of the Namib Desert extend far up the coast -- the work of prevailing south-westerlies. Anchorages along the 1,0000 mile coast are scarce and the views are hostile. Most of the time, we seemed to be sailing in fog. Such intrepid conditions repelled most early mariners.

We found the conditions quite exciting though. The fog created an eerie effect across the moodlit waves and thick carpets of large schools of anchovies and sardines scattered, whenever we ran into them.

After we cleared customs, we were visited by a local named Ian, a former Canadian merchantman. We had tea in the cockpit overlooking the view of the harbor. Ian arrived in Luderitz on a ship, met Sophie, was married soon after and never left.

Sophie was born in Luderitz and was reared by the local lightshoue keeper. She delighted us with her stories of climbing 200 steps to carry hot tea for her father. One morning, she returned to find a seal in their house, which she shared with her mother and two sisters. During our entire stay, Ian and Sophie adopted us and drover us throughout the desert to show us Namibia. It was a sad day, when we departed for St. Helena, in the mid-Atlantic, but the weather was worsening with the threat of winter on its way soon.

Kolmanskop is a ghost town a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. Developed after the discovery of diamonds in 1908, the German village provided shelter for workers from the harsh environment of the Namib Desert. The town declined after World War I as diamond prices crashed, and operations moved to Oranjemund. It was abandoned in 1956 and shifting sands of the desert have taken up residence, where the people left. The railroad above was used to cart supplies and export the diamonds.

Ian and Sophie piled all of us into his van to take us there. As I clambered in, I was suprised to see a big shovel with a short handle stowed beneath his seat. "It's a vital piece of equipment for driving in the desert. One minute the road is clear, the next it's covered up with sand from the high winds. You could die out here in the night without a shovel to clear the road," he said. Steep sand dunes line the entire coast of Namibia. They shift like glaciers: a little bit here, a bit there.

We walked around the ghost town, imagining the hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theater and sport-hall and casino. It was eerie, as if the Hollywood producers had left their film set.

Agate Beach lay north of town. Loaded with semi-precious gemstones like obsidian, yellow jasper and red jasper, Warren and Grant disappeared one early morning before everyone was up. They showed up a half day later with pockets stashed full of slick stones. Sophie and Ian loaned their shed, where together they polished the stones.

To left, Grant and Warren sorts their stones at sea, while en route to St. Helena, mid-Atlantic.

Later, I was able to walk Agate Beach with Sophie, admiring the luster of the stones and the beauty of the desert. Scattered among the semi-precious stones were the tracks of gemsbok. In the distance and on our drive back to the boat, we saw two different, small herds, camouflaged perfectly against the backdrop of desert sand.

The gemsbok were brownish-grey, with lighter patches on the rump. Long, black tails swished away at flies. A dark brown stripe extended down from the chin, making for a dramatic look of stunning beauty. Their necks were muscular and shoulders and white 'socks' adorned their legs. From the shoulder, they stood about 1.4 metres (4 ft 7 in). Ian said they can normally weigh 1/4 ton. Two on the beach stood still in the desert sands, while the one we surprised in the road loped off to a speed of about 35 mph.

Though we only saw them in small groups of one or two, Ian has seen several, about 10-40 gemsbok together.

The Sperrgebiet (German, meaning "Prohibited Area") is a diamond mining area in the Namib Desert, outside of Luderitz 45 miles. Extending 60 miles inland, the public if forbidden to enter and will be imprisoned and fined if caught.

Ian drove us into the desert to see this banned area. Gemsbok glided by in the distance, their stately black horns announcing their camouflaged presence against a beige backdrop of sand.

At one time, village residents went on hands and knees in the desert beneath a full moon on a windy night, when diamonds were best seen against the glitter of night and when the sands had shifted from the winds. Tin cans jingled from their necks, attached to strings and were used to store their diamonds, which were used to barter goods in town.

Nearly 1/5th of the world’s gem diamonds come from the Sperrgebiet. 2 years ago, Ernest Oppenheimer’s Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM) won an exclusive concession in Namibia.

In 1980 CDM sifted 57 million tons to recover 1, l56 million carats. Company payments constitute 40% of Namibian revenues.

The first South African alluvial diamond was discovered by a railway worker in 1908 in Namibia, near the Orange River. A Texan started the first diamond mining company, which was bought out later by the infamous De Beers Company, a giant in the industry.

Today, De Beers is now a more transparent company, less inclined to manipulate world prices and demand. It complies with the UN resolutions regarding “conflict diamonds” -- known as “blood diamonds. The town of Luderitz is dependent on the diamond industry, as 50% of the ship's crew come from here.

Pete and I sauntered over to the loading dock for a chat with the diamond mining ship captain. He gave us a short run down on how his operation works.

After a complex six steps process that separates them from shells and clay, the diamonds end up in cans without having been touched by a single human.

Prior to start mining an area, an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) explores the sea bed 15 meters by 15 meters, collects the data and generates a 3D image of the underground, so diamond trails are detected.

The mining is operated by a giant crawler in front of the ship, the process is controlled by the metallurgist and the crawler team, using the data and the imaging generated from the exploration. The crawler is composed of a winch, a boom and a nozzle that mines 120 meters below the surface and scrape the floor 1 to 12 meters deep (avg 5 m).

Four anchors maintain the ship’s stability, on average 400 tons of gravels and 10 000 cubic meters of water are processed per hour to produce an average of 57 carats of diamonds.