If you missed the last column, here's a brief recap. We were about to enter the Namibian Sperrgebiet (lit. "Restricted Area"), a vast southwest African coastal wilderness, off limits for nearly a century due to its dense concentrations of diamonds.
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| On the coast of Namibia's Sperrgebiet the remains of the shipwreck are ignored by a busy seal rookery. |
The diamonds are gone, at least on a commercially attractive scale, and so too are the armed guards with the shoot-on-sight policy. For the first time in years, limited numbers of intrepid tourists are being allowed into this area on guided but self-drive, self-catering safaris.
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