Monthly:July 2022

In April 1908, the Namibian railroad worker Zacharias Levala discovered wonderful stones on the newly completed railroad line between Lüderitz and Keetmanshoop near the "Grasplatz" railroad station, which his supervisor, the Thuringian railroad official August Stauch, quickly identified as diamonds. Stauch bought the mining rights for the site and by the end of 1908, rough diamonds totaling 39,000 carats had been found and diamond fever had broken out. The government of the German Empire, as the colonial power of what was then German South West Africa, reacted quickly and set up a diamond [...]

Wild horses in Africa? The jewels of North Africa, the Berbers, probably spring to mind here. This breed of horse was tamed early on by the tribes of North Africa living in the Maghreb and is still famous today for its endurance and elegance. But in Namibia? Even if there are other explanations that may apply to one horse or another, the history of wild horses in Namibia began over 100 years ago when the First World War broke out in Europe and shortly afterwards [...]