Justin Fox explores the town of Port Nolloth and its gem fever...
The Town Built on Dreams
Hemmed in by no-go diamond areas, Port Nolloth is an isolated West Coast dorp that lives on gem fever.
Approaching the dorp through the scorching Namaqualand interior, Port Nolloth emerges from a bank of eerie fog. A sign reads, “If you’re not part of the problem, be part of the solution,” with the picture of a handful of diamonds and a red line through it.
Port Nolloth is a town hooked on gems, shot through with tales of illicit buying and pervaded with dreams of untold wealth. It’s as though the malmokkie (fog) breathes an air of mystery, shrouding many a tale. The town is inhabited by a curious assortment of characters: fishermen, commercial divers, diamond daisies (women trying to wed a rich diver) … all here to seek their fortune. There’s an edge to Port Nolloth compounded by the whiff of IDB (Illegal Diamond Buying).
Upon Closer Scrutiny
Port Nolloth is workmanlike and wild, like many of the people hereabouts. There’s the crayfish factory, a jetty packed with fishing bakkies, simple houses for fishermen and tough-as-nails divers and a few shops. Along Kusweg, however, you’ll find some lovely 19th and early 20th century beach cottages.
The bay is filled with what look like fishing boats. Upon closer scrutiny it becomes clear they’re diamond-dredging vessels, colourful vacuuming ‘hoses’ trailing over their sterns and looking for all the world like the boats’ intestines. Divers use these hoses to suck up diamond-bearing gravel from the ocean floor washed into the Atlantic by the Orange River over millennia. It’s dangerous work requiring a particular type of character to spend his days manhandling the pipes in the dark, icy depths. The sea here is just like the desert it fringes: wild, inhospitable, extreme. Mess with it and you die.
By Justin Fox