KOLMANSKOP THIS YEAR / 2019

Kolmanskop is the famous Diamond Ghost town 10km inland from Lüderitz and is one of our participant’s preferred photographic destinations. Over the past 63 years, the harsh weather conditions are slowly reclaiming this once-thriving settlement and today we walk through the houses filled with sand dunes and decaying wooden structures.

It is one of my favorite photographic haunts and this time I concentrated on details not noticed on previous visits, focusing on the way light came through remains of windows, creating shadows on the sand and caved in ceilings.

Since January, I have been very active on INSTAGRAM. Visit my collection on: https://www.instagram.com/nicoledhondtpalmer/

CEDERBERG

A rugged, wild place full of dramatic beauty!

Indeed, between the rocks and the wines, the botanical diversity, the birds and the stars, we relaxed completely in this quiet environment. As I watched the colours of the rocks and shadows on the mountains change throughout the day I decided to get up at 4.30am to be at the Stadsaal Caves for sunrise.

Guy left me to explore while he negotiated some steep and dusty passes on his bicycle.

I was all alone for a few heavenly hours in this wilderness, left to investigate the series of ancient, spacious inter-leading caves and it’s particularly beautiful elephant rock art painting. The warm early light reaching deep inside the cave, lit up the rocks for a short time, in a pallet of unexpected oranges and purples. The silence enveloped me while I discovered the overwhelming aspects of the scene and time flew past. A sharp whistle tore me from my captivating reverie; Guy was back, looking for me…

NIEUWOUDTVILLE

A quaint rural village shelters among trees in a rather flat landscape, almost untouched by development. In August, one wakes up to discover a dense mist often shrouding the parish. This gives a ghostly impression to the NG Church made of sturdy blocks of local sandstone and the 100 odd year old construction seems to float airily in the morning light filtering through the trees and grass. We explored the streets where the mist still lingered, slowly revealing the profusion of flowers covering the small holdings while the sound of sheep and roosters calling the sun slowly wakes up this sleepy community.

RIOT OF FLOWERS

Heading out of Nieuwoudtville, we intended to discover its many treasures. It is the “Bulb Capital of the World”, boasting to have over 309 of the Cape Floral Kingdom’s species, flowering in August and September. In our eagerness to see flowers, we were too early on the first cold morning and the warmth of the sun had not opened them yet, but while sipping a coffee, the rusty dusted landscape woke up to surround us with the most vibrant shades of orange. Although it was still too early in the season for the bulbs, a spectacular show awaited us. Very soon, the surprise was dazzling in yellows, pink and white as far as we could see and we absorbed the energy of these vast fields of flowers.