South of Namibia , in the Karas region, one might think that you are in Germany if not for the Namib desert, which reminds you in the background that you are actually in Africa.
It is Lüderitz , a city of just 13,000 inhabitants that struggles to survive by clinging to fishing, which is undoubtedly the main source of income for its inhabitants.
It was founded by a German
The city was founded in 1883 and not exactly by a Namibian. Adolf Lüderitz , a German merchant who drowned in the Orange River only 3 years after making one of his dreams come true, bought the small angra and surroundings to promote both fishing and guano harvesting.
Years later, specifically in 1909, diamonds were discovered and the city became a more prosperous place that many Namibians wanted to go to. Diamond mining has continued over the years and also carries a lot of weight in Lüdertiz’s economy, albeit with modest levels of mining.
As I have commented previously, fishing is the main economic engine of the city, something that is not surprising if we take into account that companies such as Pescanova have settled there, which has two processing plants to export lobster and hake that it is extracted from its waters.
Going back to its German past, it must be said that it became the main city of the German Southwest African Colonial Company . That is something that attracts curious tourists who want to feel like in Germany being in Africa.
Increasingly touristy
As tourism is growing in recent years, the city is allocating part of its space to offices and shops that are located on the riverbank. It is not that it is one of the benchmarks in terms of tourism in Africa, but at least it is making a hole in the tourism agencies that offer trips to Namibia.
Finally, it should be said that nature lovers can also enjoy the fauna of the place, since there it is not difficult to find flamingos, ostriches, penguins and seals.
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