A glimpse into the past (16 photos)

Sometimes people will abandoned their home, leaving everything behind. It also happens that a whole town is abandoned and all the inhabitants leave at the same time. Whatever the cause of leaving a house or abandoning a whole town, the people who left have had reasons to leave. When they do, nature will in many cases take over. I took a lot of photos during my visits. This is just a small selection.

One of these abondoned towns swalloved by nature is Kolmanskop in Namibia. This town has been taken over by the surrounding desert. This abandoned town is situated about 10 kilomerters from Lüderitz in South Namibia. Kolmanskop was once a prosperous dimant mining town that was established during the diamond boom around 1910. The buildings does give a glimpse of the comfortable life of the inhabitants. The town had its own casino, theatre, school, hospital. There were a butcher, bakeri and they had their own ice making factory.

In this case we know why the inhabitants left. The people who once lived here, left around the 1950s. The diamant mining was not prosperous any more. At that time even more prosperous diamond mines were discovered further south. The miners and their families left without many of their belongings.

Sometimes a room is completely covered in desert sand. In some rooms I saw traces of the people who once lived here. Time has been standing still since for so many years. Sometimes I almost expected someone to turn up in a doorway. I did feel as if I wasn't alone in some of the rooms. Spooky, because I was actually all alone ...