Mortymoose's Backyard!

[Mortymoose]

It's a quiet day for me and I was sorting out my photographs when I came across a few snaps that a few of you might find of interest!

Some of you know that I live in a small remote town in Southern Namibia called Oranjemund!.

This is the only town in a restricted area called the Sperrgebiedt (Forbidden Territory)

The German Colonial Government back in the 1908 , declared this vast expanse of desert off limits to the general public to safeguard the vast diamond wealth that lay here.

The area has a number of abandoned German mining towns and a number of old mines.

Ironically due to the area being declared off limits to the general public for the last 100 years , a lot of the area is an untouched wilderness....

My town lies in the bottom South Western Corner of the area.

The snaps I am sharing are from last year when I took a trip into the area with a small group of old timers...

 

[thestaggy]

Fantastic pics!

Looks like an old railway line in front of those buildings.

 

[ponder]

Post more.

 

[thestaggy]

^ Seconded.

Some more of the old buildings would be nice.

 

[Maverick Jester]

These are pretty amazing.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Post MOAR!

We are all massively jealous.

 

[Mortymoose]

I'm too lazy to type the history, so here is the WIki version of the town of Pomona

"Pomona is a ghost town in southern Namibia south of Lüderitz on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 15 km south of Elizabeth Bay, Namibia, in an area called Sperrgebiet, a diamond mining zone with restricted access.
Around 1910, at the time of the diamond rush in German South-West Africa, diamonds in the Pomona area were so plentiful that they could be picked up from the ground with bare hands. Pomona boasted the richest diamond mine of its time, generating over 1,000,000 carats "

Notice how the Sandunes move around up here, Luderitz and Oranjemund are seperated by 270 km. There is an optic fibre cable running between the two towns. Often the dunes move in and cover the line. On other occasions the jackals get to walk up the dunes and chew on wires for some strange reason or other.....



Damn! wanted to add more photo's but see I am only allowed 6 pics per post.... Sorry!

 

[Compton_effect]

Wow! To quote Buzz Aldrin - 'Magnificent Desolation'

 

[abandonallhope]

Wow that first pic on the beach is so captivating.

I want to go there !

 

[Mortymoose]

Fantastic pics!

Looks like an old railway line in front of those buildings.

You are correct, the actual German mines are some 20km to the west on the coast, there was no water to be had back in those day's and water was shipped up from the Cape... Anyhow the clever Germans on speaking to the local natives realised that there was water to be found under the quartz rock inland.... so they put up these pumping stations and used railways to bring the water down to the mining areas!

 

[Mortymoose]

Was there always a limit on the number of pics per post?

I have more interesting snaps of the area but now I cannot post! So the thread dies or what?

 

[OrbitalDawn]

You actually made abandonallhope post a non-snarky comment. That's an achievement.

Wonderful pics.

 

[Mortymoose]

You actually made abandonallhope post a non-snarky comment. That's an achievement.

Wonderful pics.

But I have more.... I want to share the images, but I am not allowed to post more than 6......

 

[Bar0n]

But I have more.... I want to share the images, but I am not allowed to post more than 6......

Per post, I would think, not per thread.

 

[Mortymoose]

Per post, I would think, not per thread.

let's give it another bash then.....

Pomona has one of the most desolate but romantic graveyards in the world..... one can only imagine how this town was back in it's heady heydays!

 

[Mortymoose]

The wind usually pumps out here, barren and desolate, at least if you are buried out here, you will never get dug up....

 

[Mortymoose]

Chameis Gate is now abandoned. It was a Mine security Checkpoint in the middle of a desolate valley , about 100km North of our town.

Check the photograph of how a succulent manages to cling to life on the hard rock!

The snap of the unspoilt desert, one must bear in mind that there are no farms out here, this is all state land making up the newly proclaimed Sperrgebiedt National Park.

 

[STS]

you bastard, now i'm jelly

 

[IzZzy]

Did you sleep over in one of the abandoned houses?

 

[Pooky]

What does where you live look like?