A Walk to Shark Island

Our first weekend here proved to us just how low-key a place Lüderitz can be. Everything closed around 2pm on Saturday … and that was it till Monday. A couple of shops were open on Sunday for a few hours, but even most of the restaurants were closed. I mean, why would a restaurant want to be open when everyone is off-work and hankering for a meal out? No matter to us. We were happy to take a little foray out to the tip of the small peninsula called Shark Island. A peninsula called Shark Island? Evidently, it was formerly an island and became a peninsula in 1906 when the locals created a connection to the shore.

Shark Island is only a couple of miles walk along the coast from the waterfront and there's lots to see along the way. Initially, the road leads past a row of old warehouse and maritime services buildings catering to the fishing industry. Opposite, the NamPort harbor and containers take up all the real estate.

A few hundred meters further, fashionable, up-scale houses take over with gorgeous views overlooking the other side of the bay. There's an old lighthouse built high on a granite outcropping that has been converted into a small guesthouse.

We climbed up to the lighthouse looking for views and saw that the door was open. We peeked in and were invited for a look-around and a climb to the top, via traditional circular stairs and a trapdoor at the top that opened onto a viewing platform, offering outstanding 360º views.

The paved road turned to dirt and gravel as we entered a public campground area. It's a dry, barren, rocky area with no shade or respite from the sun, but surrounded on three sides by the sea. We saw a small park and noted several memorial plaques including one to Cornelius Fredericks. Engraved below his name and dates was “with 167 men, 97 women, 66 children”. We thought at first it was a shipwreck or a sea rescue, but learned later that Fredericks was a Nama rebel leader who, along with hundreds of Nama and Herrero, was incarcerated by the German colonials in a concentration camp here on Shark Island. Nearly all the prisoners died due to disease, deprivation and brutal treatment and it is referred to as the genocide of 1904-1908. Man's inhumanity to man shows its ugly face once again. Read more details about the Shark Island concentration camp here if you're interested. It's a sad affair.

We sat in the bright sunlight on a seawall and split an orange while surveying the water below us. Huge limpets clung to the rocky outcrops.

Oystercatchers and kelp gulls scoured the rocks for snacks and a lone greater flamingo shuffled his feet and swung his big beak from side to side in search of lunch.

We walked back along the same road and, as always, there were different views to take in on the way back. Succulent wildflowers (weeds?) poked up between the rocks. We could see the ruins of old buildings behind the warehouse row.

The view of the town built up along the craggy, granite hills was spectacular.

Surprisingly, not many people were out and about on a beautiful, warm late afternoon. We had the streets to ourselves as we wandered back to the waterfront. We reclaimed the dinghy and headed back to Nine of Cups to appreciate the remains of a sunny day with a sundowner in the cockpit.

Strolling Around Lüderitz

Now that we've figured out where the all the important shops and services are located, we can begin to explore the town and its history a bit. Portuguese explorer, Bartholomeu Dias, was the first European ashore here in 1488 and named the town Angra Pequena (little bay). Adolph Lüderitz, a German merchant, arrived in 1884 with the intent of starting a trading post, as well as a foothold for the German Empire in Africa.

The town's isolation at the edge of the Namib Desert along with the lack of fresh water and building materials hindered its growth. Ongoing clashes with local native people (the Nama and Herrero) added to the problems until a railway worker, Zacharias Lewala happened to discover a diamond in 1908 and turned it in to his supervisor. A diamond rush ensued causing the town to grow quickly. The rush lasted nearly 50 years. Today, diamonds are still a big part of Lüderitz's heritage and economy, but much less so than in the past. Fishing and tourism contribute to the town's economy and support its population of ~12,500 people, many of German heritage. More about diamonds in the near future.

Walking around town is easy and convenient. Everything is accessible on foot. Liz, our new friend at Lüderitz Safaris and Tours, gave us a hard-to-come-by heritage route map and we've been slowly making our way around town. Many of the German Art Nouveau buildings from the early 20th century are still standing and have been restored and have become national monuments and heritage sites.

It was not difficult to spot historical buildings as we walk along Bismarck Street, the town's main road.

We climbed the steep Diamantberg (Diamond Hill) to the Felsenkirche (Church of the Rock) which was consecrated in 1912, making it one of the oldest churches in Namibia. Built in a vertical Victorian Gothic style, it's also notable for its stained glass windows, a gift to Luderitz by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. It has limited visiting hours (4-5pm daily) and we intend to return when we can view the windows.

“Diamond palaces”, such as the Goerke House (1910) shown here, were opulent, luxurious mansions, built by wealthy diamond magnates and surround the area around the church. This house is now a private museum.

Berg Street was a pleasant street to walk down with its row of restored, colorful, historical houses.

It's sheer pleasure walking Lüderitz's quiet, historic streets. There's something to see at every turn. We've yet to get to the town's tiny museum, but it's on the list along with a return visit to the church and the Goerke House … and then there's a pub called Barrels. No wonder there's no time for chores.

First Things First - Lüderitz, Namibia

Whenever we arrive in a new port, we have a particular routine we follow for learning the layout of the land and getting to know the new area. Since we're in a new country, as well as a new port, our first order of business after getting Cups tidied up and secure was to check in. We arrived in Lüderitz late in the afternoon and by the time all was secure, it was too late to check in. Darn, and we were so wishing we could launch the dinghy in 20 knot winds and dash into the port. Actually, Port Authority had no problem with us checking in the next morning and, in fact, told us we had 24 hours for check-in formalities. We always like to see that Cups is secure on her mooring or anchor and how she lies relative to other boats, not to mention we were tired.

The night and morning were quite cold, but tolerable. The warm, bright morning sun burned off the early fog and by 1030, we could feel the day start to warm up a bit. We launched the dink and made our way to a floating jetty. All the authorities were close by … Immigration first, then Customs, then Port Authority. All officials were friendly and welcoming. The paperwork was minimal … one page. There were no costs involved and the whole process took less than hour. Our kind of check-in.

We'd heard  from other cruisers that Lüderitz was a charming, laid-back, little town and at first glance, it appears to be so. It's a fishing harbor and the colorful boats are all tied up in a separate fishing harbour along the docks, closer to Port Control. Small ships seem to come and go, but we haven't seen any larger container-type vessels and doubt they could be accommodated.

There's a waterfront “mall” with several little shops and souvenir vendors and a cafe or two, which opens onto a large plaza overlooking the anchorage. We visited the little  Lüderitz Yacht Club which appears to be more social than serious, but no one, other than the bartender, was around. We were invited to sign the guestbook and offered showers (was that a hint?). We were warned to let the barman know a couple of hours in advance of when we wanted to shower, so he could turn on the hot water.

A reasonable sized OK Grocery was directly across the street from the waterfront. The traffic was light and the drivers courteous as we crossed over to give the grocery a quick look. We had a vague idea of the town's layout, but just strolling along suited our purposes. We spotted the local Shell station for diesel and petrol, another grocery, a hardware store, a place that filled propane tanks, a laundry and a bank with an ATM. All this within a 5 minute walk from the waterfront … definitely a cruiser-friendly town. By noontime, we were shedding our jackets and enjoying 70F/20C temperatures.

We were looking for a Namibian courtesy flag. It was a bit more elaborate flag than I cared to tackle and we found none available in Cape Town. I asked a lady on the street if she could suggest a place to buy one and she happily pointed us in the direction of  Lüderitz Safaris and Tours, a couple of blocks away. The shop was a combination tour office and curio shop with a great selection of unique local crafts, souvenirs and books on Namibia. Liz, the owner, had Namibian courtesy flags in stock and we bought one immediately.

Liz was chatty and amiable and provided all sorts of local information about the town, recommended some local tours and gave us a town map for self-guided walking. The town has some historical significance, as well as lovely views, and we're looking forward to exploring further over the upcoming weeks.

Liz also gave us directions to both of the competing telecom companies … just up the street and pretty much next to each other. MTC was the most widely used, we were told, and after waiting in line at both places to get all the necessary info and pricing, we decided upon MTC. We bought a Netman wifi router and a data package so we could have internet on the boat. We have a small box full of dongles and routers and SIM cards and phones aboard … they differ from country to country. We're always hopeful one of the old ones will work in a new country, but so far, no luck, except our unlocked Australian phone. Since we can use Skype for phone calls, we don't need a phone here.

On the way back to the boat, we stopped to say hello to a local fellow working aboard his moored trimaran. Andy was friendly and a fount of information. He was also the one who informed us that we were on a fishing boat mooring and hence had such a hard time trying to tie up to it. He suggested moving Cups to a hefty yacht mooring just in front of his boat that he happened to know was safe and vacant. Its owner's boat is on the hard for the winter months.

We checked out the vacant mooring and its pick-up line and headed back to Cups. Within minutes, we dropped our mooring lines for later recovery and headed to the new mooring. It was a breeze to pick up and we were able to loop our bridled lines directly through a large, robust chain link. All snug and secure and about ¼ mile closer to the floating pontoon, David retrieved our lines from the other mooring and tidied up the rat's nest of lines we'd left behind.

Without a doubt, we're going to enjoy Lüderitz.