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Luderitz is a harbour town in southern Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.
Luderitz was founded in 1883 when Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Pequena and some of the surrounding land on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz, a hanseat from Bremen in Germany, from the local Nama chief. Luderitz began its life as a trading post, with other activities in fishing and guano-harvesting. In 1909, after the discovery of diamonds nearby, Luderitz enjoyed a sudden surge of prosperity. Today, however, diamonds are mostly found elsewhere and offshore, and Lüderitz has lost a lot of this interest.
The harbour has a very shallow rock bottom, making it unusable for modern ships; this led to Walvis Bay becoming the centre of the Namibian shipping industry. Recently, however, the addition of a new quay has allowed larger fishing vessels to dock at Lüderitz. The town has also re-styled itself in an attempt to lure tourists to the area, which includes a new waterfront area for shops and offices.
The town is known for its colonial architecture, including some Art Nouveau work, and for wildlife including seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. It is also home to a museum and to the Lüderitz Speed Challenge, and formerly lay at the end of a railway line to Keetmanshoop.
Lüderitz was the starting point for explorer and sailor Amyr Klink's successful solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, rowing for 101 days all the way to the Brazilian coast with no other form of propulsion, in 1984
Ghost Towns: Just outside of Lüderitz lies the ghost town of Kolmanskop. This previously bustling diamond town is now abandoned, and fights a constant struggle against being buried under the shifting sand dunes of the Namib desert.
Another ghost town called Elizabeth Bay lies 30km to the south.
The coastline in the area is recognised by Bird Life and other global conservation groups as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for important coastal seabird breeding.
Mercury Island, Ichaboe Island, Halifax Island and the Possession Islands support the entire Namibian breeding population of Cape Gannets Morus Capensis, 96% of the Namibian population of the endangered African Penguin Spheniscus Demersus, and nearly one quarter of the global breeding population of Crowned Cormorants Phalacrocorax coronatus.
Approximately 80% of the global population of the endangered Bank Cormorant Phalacrocorax neglectus breeds on Mercury Island and in the Ichaboe Islands.
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