My Town ~ Where I Live!

[Mortymoose]

So those of you who follow my online antics know that I reside in a small town in the most south western corner of the ancient Namib desert in Namibia, just north of the Orange River mouth in a town called Oranjemund.

This town was built by DeBeers and established in 1936 to service the massive diamond fields found in this remote location and was deemed off limits for decades to all outsiders.

In November 2017, the gates to the township were thrown open and we now get tourists and others visiting us. No longer a need for permits......

The diamond deposits are dwindling and the town is trying to sustain itself through other manners.

This year the town is one of four towns nominated for town of the year in Namibia and the local community project, OMD2030 produced a video marketing the town.

Feel Free to AMA!

[video=youtube;S7KttLmMnDE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7KttLmMnDE[/video]

 

[Mortymoose]

i have lived here since 1974 when my parents emigrated from Scotland via Simonstown and now are both buried in the local graveyard out in the desert!

 

[shadow_man]

What's internet connectivity like out there? An old friend of mine used to live there / went to primary school there (at the time his dad was a boilermaker for the mine). The dad got retrenched (iirc) and they then moved. Always sounded like a great place to live though.

 

[Mortymoose]

What's internet connectivity like out there? An old friend of mine used to live there / went to primary school there (at the time his dad was a boilermaker for the mine). The dad got retrenched (iirc) and they then moved. Always sounded like a great place to live though.

ADSL, not the best, but 2mb at home, I have 4mb at work , enough to play online with an xbox one!

My father was a fitter on the mine, I know/knew a ton of people that live/were here, good chance I might have know your mate's father if they lived here long enough!

 

[shadow_man]

So - how does one go about looking at property here? Do you think the town can survive long term without the mine?

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

I've often wondered what safety is like in the more rural parts?

Is it as dangerous with farm murderers as they say?

Also, how developed is the area?
I visited a few months back a small free State town called Smithfield, and thought that was pretty run down and small.

 

[Mortymoose]

So - how does one go about looking at property here? Do you think the town can survive long term without the mine?

No real property market at the moment, there are plots of land for sale, but these are expensive and in bad area's like near the rubbish dump. All the locals are waiting for the mine to sell their mine houses seeing as they have first option to buy. These houses are old, built in the 60's and in my opinion are still overpriced. 3 bedroom house for 280 000 , four bedroom 360- 460 000. The town has a lot going for it, but the wind and the mist is here for 300 days a year, I think the town will not boom, but will develop into a holiday town similar to Henties Bay, our proximity to SA , the Orange River will add to this...

I've often wondered what safety is like in the more rural parts?

Is it as dangerous with farm murderers as they say?


Also, how developed is the area?
I visited a few months back a small free State town called Smithfield, and thought that was pretty run down and small.

We had a few murders back in the day, even when security was paramount, the odd robbery, but in general the crime is petty and due to the fact that everyone knows everyone else, criminals are spotted across the entire demographic spectrum. Also the nearest town in Namibia is 90km away, one road in, one road out, through a controlled Nature reserve, so big time crooks have nowhere to go. We are the only town in Namibia inside a National park!

The area is remote, so not developed.... just the town, with basic services... about 9000 people living here...

 

[Gordon_R]

Looks like you have a more reliable water supply than Cape Town! The Orange River has been flowing for 20 million years...

 

[Mortymoose]

Looks like you have a more reliable water supply than Cape Town! The Orange River has been flowing for 20 million years...

A lot of folk don't think about this, but the actual mouth of the Orange River (wetlands) was actually 12 times wider than what it has been for the last thousand years and it at one time flowed into the sea at a place 40km North of here..... turns out the mouth of the river has migrated both North and South over the millennia ....

 

[Gordon_R]

A lot of folk don't think about this, but the actual mouth of the Orange River (wetlands) was actually 12 times wider than what it has been for the last thousand years and it at one time flowed into the sea at a place 40km North of here..... turns out the mouth of the river has migrated both North and South over the millennia ....

I kinda half-knew that. Most rivers tend to create their own channel over time.

Nice satellite image and writeup here: https://www.birdlife.org.za/get-inv...ca/item/171-sa030-orange-river-mouth-wetlands

It is a delta-type river mouth, consisting of a series of braided troughs interspersed with sand banks, channel bars and islets, with a tidal basin and salt marshes. Extensive mudflats occur at the mouth, and large areas of intra-fluvial marsh occur upstream of the mudflats. This system is so dominated by fresh water that it has few estuarine characteristics. The major part of the vegetation of the lower section of the river is typical of a low-salinity wetland.

This Important Bird and Biodiversity Area [IBA] is being placed under increasing stress due to the increased demand for water from the Orange River for human consumption and industrial and agricultural purposes. The river has become highly regulated by the 23 dams and numerous weirs within its catchment. The Gariep and Vanderkloof dams are also regulated for hydropower generation. Abstraction and regulation have reduced the Orange's annual flow by half. Should further dams be built, worst-case scenarios project periodic drying up of the river that would have extremely negative consequences for the functioning of the mouth wetlands. Agricultural and industrial pollution are increasing the chemical and nutrient load flowing into the IBA. Algal blooms sometimes occur during low flow conditions.

Occasionally, floods severely alter the shape of the river mouth and result in significant vegetation loss, and the system may take several years to recover. Siltation is also a significant threat, as increased erosion inland results in an increased silt load and clogging at the river mouth. A severe threat is further degradation of the remaining salt marshes.

This IBA was declared a Ramsar site in 1991, as was the Namibian side of the mouth in 1995. Together they form the Orange River Mouth Transboundary Ramsar Site.

Due to the severe degradation of the salt marsh by mining activities, the Ramsar site was placed on the Montreux Record in 1995. Since 2001 Alexkor SOC Ltd has promised to rehabilitate the area and restore the salt marsh, although it is unlikely that it will return to its former state. A Working for Wetlands project in 2005 completed minor rehabilitation work. A 2013 Alexkor application for restoration activities forms part of the management objectives of the strategic management plan for the site.

 

[Mortymoose]

Interesting writeup, The RAMSAR board use to stand proudly just past our Golf Club on the way to the beach, sadly it got rusted and fell over, further to this, nobody gave a toss .

The area has always attracted bird watchers, not from far, but locals, the sandy islands that dot the inner estuary are a haven for different birds, numbering into the many hundreds if not thousands. Migrating birds also stop over here.

My mate over at conservation was moaning about the increase in salinity in the river and mentioned some fish species that was killed off because of this.... I forget the species right now.

He was also complaining bitterly about ALEXKOR and how decades ago, they dumped old bulldozers into the sea/river and covered it with sand, only for all the rusted metal to be exposed years later when the mouth of the river moved south along the sandbar.

We have a massive salt pan that lies NW of the mouth, there are also a number of bird species to be found here...

 

[RedViking]

I've never been to Namibia but would like to go one day. Want to see what it is Namibians are so passionate about in a place covered in sand. I've met a couple of Namibians in my life and they all spoke highly of their country. Most of them are great story tellers. Used to have a teacher in school giving metal (welding etc.) classes. We never did any work in class because he could only tell stories about Namibia, to us he seemed to live in a reality that didn't exist. He'll talk about spiders coming out at night leaving little footprints on the dunes, flies that are too lazy too fly and come join you when you try to fish, hot days spend listening to someone on an acoustic and cool evenings with the ocean putting you to sleep.......

Anyways, when reading your threads you remind me of him Mortymoose.

 

[tRoN]

Nice video. How’s the fishing there? Never seen a vis on your braai ever.

 

[Mortymoose]

I've never been to Namibia but would like to go one day. Want to see what it is Namibians are so passionate about in a place covered in sand. I've met a couple of Namibians in my life and they all spoke highly of their country. Most of them are great story tellers. Used to have a teacher in school giving metal (welding etc.) classes. We never did any work in class because he could only tell stories about Namibia, to us he seemed to live in a reality that didn't exist. He'll talk about spiders coming out at night leaving little footprints on the dunes, flies that are too lazy too fly and come join you when you try to fish, hot days spend listening to someone on an acoustic and cool evenings with the ocean putting you to sleep.......

Anyways, when reading your threads you remind me of him Mortymoose.

Whenever I travel outside Namibia and I bash into another Namibian, even though we do not know each other we get on like a house on fire, My daughter at Potch says the same thing about Namibian folk, very friendly and sociable folk.....

Nice video. How’s the fishing there? Never seen a vis on your braai ever.

I ain't big into fishing, but I know a lot of locals that are nuts about the fishing here. It is very seasonal and the anglers have a choice of 10km of river fishing or 6km of surf angling....no rocks.... over December a lot of the anglers setup camp on the beach, build bonfires and spend plenty of nights camping down there......

I have braai's shop caught snoek on a number of occassions....

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

how far is the nearest cinema? or Big shopping center? swapkopmund?

I take it there isnt much of a nightlife around those parts?
as soon as the sun goes down nobody is on the streets?

besides braaing and internet and maybe some farming, Ive often wondered what life is like in these small rural parts far from anything.
I mean when I visited Smithfield/Zastron, I thought to myself, why would anybody who wasn't born here, move to here?

I mean sure its Peaceful and its Clean, and its very remote and pristine,
but then I started wondering what do people in those rural parts do when you NEED the rest of society?

bush flights? traveling doctors?
and then what about if something goes wrong with the utilities? I mean if there is no power for a month?
do people manage? what about Water? I take it its all borehole ? but what it its gets contaminated?

Ive often wondered what its like living for an extended period of time someplace like that,

whats the one thing you wish your little town had? a Imax?

 

[Tabac]

My father was a fitter on the mine, I know/knew a ton of people that live/were here, good chance I might have know your mate's father if they lived here long enough!

Know/knew the Wieses ? Ben (The dad), two son's, Benard and Hanre, think their daughter was Lize-Mari...

Oom Ben used to work for the police - patrolled the spergebied and on various occasions caught diamond smugglers.

 

[ToxicBunny]

how far is the nearest cinema? or Big shopping center? swapkopmund?

I take it there isnt much of a nightlife around those parts?
as soon as the sun goes down nobody is on the streets?

besides braaing and internet and maybe some farming, Ive often wondered what life is like in these small rural parts far from anything.
I mean when I visited Smithfield/Zastron, I thought to myself, why would anybody who wasn't born here, move to here?

I mean sure its Peaceful and its Clean, and its very remote and pristine,
but then I started wondering what do people in those rural parts do when you NEED the rest of society?

bush flights? traveling doctors?
and then what about if something goes wrong with the utilities? I mean if there is no power for a month?
do people manage? what about Water? I take it its all borehole ? but what it its gets contaminated?

Ive often wondered what its like living for an extended period of time someplace like that,

whats the one thing you wish your little town had? a Imax?

The isolation from the "modern" world is one of the main draws to a place like this in my opinion...

Its quiet, its peaceful.... you aren't constantly being smashed by all the crap the modern world brings with it like traffic, high crime etc etc...

So what if there is no nightclub, or cinema, or large mall... those things are generally not the be all and end all.

I am always on the look out for a decent property that is at least 2 hours away from the nearest large city... when I find it, and I can work remotely for most of the week I am bailing from the big city asap

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

The isolation from the "modern" world is one of the main draws to a place like this in my opinion...

Its quiet, its peaceful.... you aren't constantly being smashed by all the crap the modern world brings with it like traffic, high crime etc etc...

So what if there is no nightclub, or cinema, or large mall... those things are generally not the be all and end all.

I am always on the look out for a decent property that is at least 2 hours away from the nearest large city... when I find it, and I can work remotely for most of the week I am bailing from the big city asap

agree with you fully toxic,
only problem with it is when something happens, that you need a big city to be nearby,
IE medical attention, package delivery takes longer, ect.

so its good its very good points , granted, but also some not so good points,
that's why suburbs have become so popular, IE the remoteness of the country, but the amenities of the city.

someplace like Harties/fishriver estate, remoteness of the rural, but close enough to the city.
to still be able to get there should the need arise.

 

[ToxicBunny]

agree with you fully toxic,
only problem with it is when something happens, that you need a big city to be nearby,
IE medical attention, package delivery takes longer, ect.

so its good its very good points , granted, but also some not so good points,
that's why suburbs have become so popular, IE the remoteness of the country, but the amenities of the city.

someplace like Harties/fishriver estate, remoteness of the rural, but close enough to the city.
to still be able to get there should the need arise.

You are looking for the negatives, and they are few and far between in my opinion...

Medical, there will be basic medical facilities nearby to stabilise you and get you to a large regional hospital.
Package delivery, nothing is urgent that far out in the world that you would expect to be delivered so a few extra days isn't going to kill anyone.

And suburbs are nowhere near the remoteness of the country... they are just parts of the city...