Every image you see of Kolmanskop makes it look like some sort of Surrealist art installation. With sand dunes sweeping through the houses and the fact that most of the rooms still have wallpaper, this dead village could easily be straight out of a Charlie Kaufman movie. Kolmanskop is a forgotten hangover from the frenzied diamond rush that happened on Africas west coast in the early twentieth century. Built in the style of a traditional German town, Kolmanskop brought enormous wealth to the first miners established there. So much so that there was a ballroom, a bowling alley, a casino, an ice factory, and the first X-ray station in the southern hemisphere. Thats right, this place was so rich they built an ice factory. In Africa. But once all the shiny carbonised rocks dried up, the town saw a mass exodus and shortly after World War II ended Kolmanskop was all but abandoned, leaving behind nothing but some incredible photography possibilities and a load of sand.
