Sperrgebiet

IUCN Category II - National Park

The long wall north of Lüderitz, within the diamond restricted area

The Tsau - ǁ Khaeb ( restricted area ) National Park (English Tsau ǁ Khaeb ( restricted area ) National Park), between 2008 and November 2012 Sperrgebiet National Park, before Sperrgebiet or Diamond Area 1 (formerly Diamond Restricted Area A), refers to a port town of Lüderitz surrounding region on the Namibian west coast of Africa, extending from the Orange River to the southern boundary of the Namib -Naukluft National Park. The diamond area has a total area of ​​about 26,000 square kilometers, so it is slightly larger than Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is crossed by the National Road B4 and includes the coastal section of the Diamond Coast, the so-called Klinghardt Mountains inland and the village of Rosh Pinah in the south with a.

In the restricted diamond area was Zacharias Lewala, the assistant August Stauch, in April 1908 in the maintenance of Lüderitz Railway Line diamonds. It established a number of German companies diamonds that parceled the excavation site and a parent diamond mining zuführten. During this period settlements as Kolmanskuppe or Elizabeth Bay, which are now ghost towns. 1920 were thought to be diamond bearing for exhausted and sold it to Ernst Oppenheimer, the founder of the company Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa. This company, which was later taken over by the De Beers Group, perfected the diamond mining and extended them far beyond the original discovery area to the north and especially to the south. To protect against an unlicensed, uncontrolled diamond mining the entire area of Bernhard Dernburg in 1908 declared a prohibited area. Only the town of Lüderitz and leading to her street were released for general traffic.

The diamond mining became increasingly industrialized and perfected through the use of large equipment, which led to large-scale alteration and destruction of the desert landscape. At the same time received in the Sperrgebiet unique habitats of great scientific value.

After the diamond mining has increasingly moved to the mouth of the Orange River, the strong access restrictions were abolished and the area proclaimed Sperrgebiet National Park. The mining town of Oranjemund, founded by the De Beers Group is already managed communally and is open to the prior approval of the general public during the day.

Nowadays, there are a number of ghost towns in the National Park area, who have thus been abandoned by the people that can sometimes be seen in cemeteries of those cities mummy -like corpses that have come to the surface because of the winds of the desert and the long time without anyone around she cares.