Swakop Tour Company

09/07/2020

Right at the entrance to Sesriem / Sossusvlei
And those buffets!!

02/07/2020

For all practical purposes SWAKOP TOUR COMPANY is fully dormant for an indefinite period of time.
For any enquiries contact Georg Erb at IVANOFF-ERB Photo Galerie in the Brauhaus Arcade, Swakopmund
+264 64 404088
+264 81 1242 906

26/06/2020

Part of Swakop history - part of a world-wide web spanning five continents.

Facade of the bell foundry "Hof-Glockengießerei Schilling" in Apolda, about 10 km NE of Weimar in Thuringia, the eastern parts of Germany.
Over seventeen thousand church bells resonating all around the world today, had been manufactured in this village.
Some of the largest church bells in the world hail from this unassuming little workshop.
A 25 ton bell for the "Kölner Dom" in Cologne was cast here in 1923.
A few years earlier the church bell ensemble for the Christuskirche in Windhoek had been produced here.
Also the bell ensemble for the Swakopmund Lutheran Church had been cast in this workshop in 1911/12.
The bronze bells were shipped to Swakopmund, off-loaded at the wooden pier and hoisted up the church tower steeple by means of a mechanical winch.
The bells have been ringing daily at certain hours ever since, also to ring in church services, weddings, funerals and other special occasions, for well over a hundred years nowadays.
The plans for the Lutheran Church in Swakopmund had been drawn by the catholic Bavarian architect Otto Ertl, who had previously designed the Altes Amtsgericht, the local prison, as well as the Sankt Antonius hospital.
Construction of the Lutheran Church was executed by two contractor teams: those of Hermann Wille and Ingenieur Fritz Kramer.

25/06/2020

Martin Luther:
"Here I stand. So help me God, I can go no further."

14/02/2020

29/01/2020

Rössing railway station
1900

17/01/2020

Flamingos in the Swakop River
painted by Thomas Baines, 1861

17/11/2019

"Iconic Namibia"

(C) Georg Erb

30/10/2019

Swakopmund Kindergarten at the beach 1914

30/10/2019

One of the oldest surviving photographs of Swakopmund.
The dark building in the centre "Schweizer Haus" , to the right Erhardt & Schultz, and then the first ramshackle buildings of Damara & Namaqua Handelsgesellschaft. On furthest RHS the dwelling of Lt Edmund Troost.
Late 1896

21/10/2019

Construction of the 600mm narrow gauge railway line Swakopmund to Windhoek commenced in 1897. The entire stretch to Windhoek via Rössing, Jakkalswater, Karibib, Okahandja was completed by August 1902.
Long stretches of the original railway embankment can still be seen today.
During the 1980's one could still find numerous intact beer bottles along the route.

19/10/2019

tracks in the desert sands

18/10/2019

A sketch by the late Christine Marais, commissioned by SWAKOP TOUR COMPANY, for use on a brochure in 2004

11/10/2019

11/10/2019

Another rather old image of Swakopmund

11/10/2019

Early days
One of the older images of Swakopmund

Who can identify any of the numbered buildings?

Who can indicate where the artist would have stood when he sketched this picture?

Who can put a rough date to the image?

06/10/2019

Granite is an igneous rock made up of primarily quartz, feldspar, micas, amphiboles, and a mixture of additional trace minerals.

25/09/2019

Earlier today - east wind with vengeance (down south at Oranjemund).

🛰 SUOMI-NPP

Goed, dalk is daar toe tog 'n nog mooier foto wat gewag het om te verskyn, want hier is vele ander elemente.

24/09/2019

The first locomotive for the country, a small 610mm gauge 0−4−0 saddle tank was ordered from the manufacturer Kerr, Stuart & Co (at Stoke-on-Trent, between Birmingham and Liverpool) on 13th January 1894 by the "Damaraland Guano Company" registered at South Lambert Road, London, and shipped to South West Africa later the same year: it was painted yellow and named PRINCE EDWARD.

According to Moir & Crittenden in "Namib Narrow Gauge" (Oakwood Press), the railway was some thirteen miles in length and connected the guano deposits with a somewhat dangerous landing place at Cape Cross, about a hundred miles north of Walvis Bay.
Guano mining operations there ceased in 1906. The railway was abandoned and nobody in the world seems to know what became of the little locomotive "Prince Edward" afterwards.

This locomotive arrived even before "Martin Luther" or the "Hope" locomotive at Walvis Bay (also from messrs Kerr, Stuart & Co).

Even around 1896, Cape Cross had a larger population than Swakopmund.

24/09/2019

The locomotive had been ordered on 13th January 1894 by the "Damaraland Guano Company" (registered at South Lambert Road, London), and shipped to South West Africa later the same year: it was painted yellow and named PRINCE EDWARD.

According to Moir & Crittenden in "Namib Narrow Gauge" (Oakwood Press), the railway line at Cape Cross was some thirteen miles in length and connected the guano deposits with a somewhat dangerous landing place, about a hundred miles north of Walvis Bay.

Guano harvesting operations at Cape Cross ceased during 1906 or 1907. Nobody seems to know what had subsequently happened to the locomotive

The rusting remains of that railway track are visible to this day at Cape Cross.

During 1896 Cape Cross had a bigger population than Swakopmund.
Back in 1895/6 the Damaraland Guano Company also engaged in cattle farming east of Brandberg. Slaughter animals were brought down to Cape Cross from UIS to feed many hungry workers.

21/09/2019

Up at Etosha - outside Okaukuejo Anderson's Gate. About to open any day now.
A proper shop for the self-catering visitor, a deli, a modern and reliable fuel station, a well-stocked tyre and repair workshop. Camp sites.
Pop in and look for yourself....

14/09/2019

A collection of "Martin Luther" compound steam tractor images from around the globe

12/09/2019

RESEMBLANCE WITH OUR "MARTIN LUTHER" OUTSIDE SWAKOPMUND
The old "steam tractor" that stopped right in its tracks outside Swakopmund in 1896 already, had been built under license of messrs "John Fowler and Co, Leeds" at Fa. Dehne in Halberstadt, near Berlin.
When the steam engine had finally arrived in Swakopmund early in 1895, it was already decades old, totally antiquated technology.
This one was used for one or two trips along the southern plateau of the Swakop river, a little past the Goanikontes viewpoint. Already on the third trip (?) this one was "beyond local repairs" and abandoned in the desert.

Also, the steam engine had actually never been designed to function as a road tractor for any long distances, or even for crossing deserts, but rather as a steam plough engine, to pull a "sledge plough" across little European fields along steel cables on a pulley system. See illustrations

10/09/2019

STEAMPUNK
Rolls Royce armoured car
The very first deployment and war time engagement of a squadron of armoured cars, in the world, ever?

During April 1915, a squadron of these custom-built vehicles on Rolls Royce Silver Ghost chassis, had hastily been shipped from the UK to Walvis Bay and were, a few days later, engaged at the battle of Trekkopje, Southwest Africa, about 80km NE of Swakopmund.
The body was built from 1/3 inch steel plate. Every car was fitted with a Vickers .303 machine gun, in a rotating turret. They weighed in at around 4 metric tons each.
They were not the most fuel efficient cars, neither were they very suitable for traversing the trackless desert.
The beasts were taken by train to the nearest railway station. During the battle of Trekkopje these extremely heavy cars were not able to cross over the railway tracks, onto the northern side, where the actual battle took place. When in a battle situation, the drivers also could not afford to stall the engines under any circumstance. This was before the days of electrical starter engines. The engine of 7.4 ltr displacement would have to be re-started by crank-handle ;)

07/09/2019

Very well-formed, green fluorite cuboctahedrons from Davib Ost Farm 61, Karibib, Erongo Region, Namibia

Photo: Wittig Minerals

07/09/2019

the Namib round-eared elephant shrew
finding shelter in a rock crevice
they are diurnal, insectivorous creatures

02/09/2019

Some believe they’re footprints from the gods, others think they’re formed by dancing fairies or UFOs, but no-one can explain these millions of mysterious circles in the desert.

30/08/2019

Vintage airport buildings in Southwest Africa / Namibia
The one is still in daily use.
The other one should be taken into daily use again.
(Only needs a good scrub a few lengths of data cables installed)

30/08/2019

Today some historical images of WINDHOEK in the 1930's
Comments and captions welcome