In 1908, diamonds brought sudden wealth to Namibia’s desert. By 1956, Kolmanskop had become a ghost town
In 1908, a railway worker clearing sand beside a track in what is now Namibia noticed something unusual: stones that caught the sunlight. His German supervisor, August Stauch, recognised the discovery as diamonds, setting off a rush that would transform one of southern Africa’s harshest landscapes. Within months, prospectors and mining companies were moving into…