An abandoned diamond mining town. In 1908, Zacharias Lewala, a railway worker, discovered diamonds in the area when he picked up what he thought was an unusually shiny stone. Before World War I, over 1,000 kilograms of diamonds were sifted from the sands of the Namib Desert, and Kolmanskop became a diamond boom town. However, during the war, diamond prices dropped significantly. In addition, larger diamonds were later found south of Kolmanskop, in Oranjemund. By 1956, the town was completely abandoned.