Namibia (South West Africa) has always fascinated me, its mineral wealth, the gemstones that my wife likes so much and especially the 500 Km of desolation known as the Namib desert also known as the Skeleton coast, where it is said more than 1000 ships have foundered on its deadly shores.
Image - Pixabay
The original Bushmen (San) inhabitants of Namibia called this area the “Gates of Hell”. Along its bleak shoreline lie the scattered remains of countless whales left by a once booming whaling industry.
Image - Pixabay
The lure of diamonds brought the big mining group, De Beers to Namibia. Today De Beers in partnership with the Namibian government brings in more N$ 10 billion into the country’s economy annually. With all this wealth, diamond smuggling has been part and parcel of the Namibian underworld from the first discovery.
Image - Pixabay
An uncle of mine told me of his encounter with these underworld characters. Whilst on a holiday trip through the country he stopped at a local pub in Walvis Bay, being an avid collector of gem stones he asked aloud in the bar where he could lay his hands on some stones (klippe) was the word he used in Afrikaans. A sudden silence descended over the bar and one rather dubious looking character sidled up to him and asked him not to talk about (klippe) as there may be ears listening that would draw attention to him. “Klippe” it turned out was the local word for illicit diamonds. I am sure that one or two people sighed with relief or perhaps disappointment when they found out he was looking for such mundane things as “Tiger’s Eye” and rose quartz.
Image - Pixabay
I also had a relative who lived around the 1920’s who often went on trips to the then South West Africa and lived very well on what he termed sheep speculation. He wore a very fancy tie pin with a large diamond inset. One can but wonder what his real business was.
Image - Pixabay
From wrecked ships to diamond smuggling the history of Namibia has fascinated me, going to Windhoek and hearing German spoken reminds one of its German Colonial past. That’s all gone now but the magic still remains.
Image - Pixabay
Fascinating place it seems! Great post and I enjoyed reading :)
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It fascinates me too, especially the ships!
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I have a few ideas for the future in which I will cover the German history and also the wrecks along the Namibian coast.
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Sounds like fun.
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Great post, I enjoyed learning more about South Africa!
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Thanks for your interest, there will be lots more following.
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Wow ...such history...you are a good writer with well chosen photos sounds like a nice place full of amazing stories and things to see...I love gemstones...and geodes...not to big on diamonds...but great post ..really :) :) kayleigh
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Thank you for the kind words Kayleigh. I am finding the more I write the more I like it. I love semi-precious stones and used to do lapidary work as a sideline. I also belonged to our local Gem and Mineral society and every two years we would go on a gemboree. Basically a meetup to look for stones and swap mineral stock. I have few nice stones and geodes in my collection but age and time has prevented further digging. I will write a post on this aspect of my life at a later date.
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I will look Forward to that post :) :)
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Hey, you are a really talented writer, so maybe you are interested in joining a contest to reach more people :) I participated in it a while ago.
https://steemit.com/minnowsupport/@accelerator/minnows-accelerator-project-signup-win-200-sp-delegated-10-aug-17
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Thanks for the info @lindahas, I will definitely look into it. Thank you for your support I appreciate it.
Regards.
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I am actually in the contest now! You should go and check it out! So glad you joined #minnowfaucet and dropped your link here for your article.. I enjoyed it very much! Look forward to the article regarding your adventures!
Love and peace,
Melissa
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I am glad you enjoyed my article. I am working on another that concerns some real life experiences of family members in the First World War, it's effect on those in South africa.
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No problem, I am happy to help as I can :)
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Dubious about sheep speculation, huh? That's pretty funny.
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more... more...
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Such a beautiful, haunting place!
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Very nice post, that first photo is unbelievingly beautiful. Please come say hello on discord. There is now a recovery addiction chatroom. https://discord.gg/psX6mmc as soon as you join the PAL rooms, just look for the recovery addiction room.
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Thanks a lot @hope777 I have discord but have been very busy of late, I will definitely say hi, and if I can be of help in the recovery chatroom I will offer my experience. Thanks for reading my article.
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Thank you @petruskaThe room is very quiet. We need to invite people to come to the room.
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I will definitely have a look in soon.
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Stunning pictures and interesting read. It definitely is an interesting place, and isn't all that meets the eye!
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Thank you for reading this post. I totally agree with you its a really intriguing country. I plan to do more posts on the skeleton coast, its history, the shipwrecks and the mysteries of the dune desert.
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