Aus travel guide

Aus was established as a prisoner-of-war camp in 1915 following the surrender of the German colonial troops to the South African forces. The site was chosen for its strategic significance, situated as it is on the railway line between Keetmanshoop and the harbour at Lüderitz. This made it possible to ship food and equipment from Cape Town via Lüderitz to the camp.

By 15 August 1915, 22 POWs and 600 guards were stationed here, initially living in tents. At one stage the camp held more than 1500 prisoners, many of these people were German nationals who had never been in the army but had been making their living as farmers and traders. The hot summer days and cold winter nights made life virtually unbearable, and in the face of South African apathy to improve the situation, the inmates themselves set about making bricks which they used to build their own houses. By the end of 1916 none of the prisoners were living in tents and they were even selling their surplus to their South African guards at 10 shillings per 1000 bricks. By 1916 the prisoners had built their own wood stoves on which to cook and the authorities had provided water for washing and laundry purposes. It seems as if the South African garrison was not so enterprising and continued living in tents until 1918 when barracks were finally constructed.

Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War, the prisoners were gradually released, the last group leaving on 13 May 1919 after which the camp was closed. Unfortunately little remains of the camp beyond a few weather-beaten walls and foundations and a commemorative plaque.

The site of the old POW Camp can be visited and is indicated by a ‘national monument’ plaque on a rock. It really is a desolate place, and as you walk around, images of the place in its heyday are not hard to conjure. To get there, turn off the B4 into the village. Drive up the hill past the hotel and petrol station and continue for a further 3 km to the turn-off for Rosh Pinah. Ignore this, take the left fork, after 500 m the remains of the camp are to the right, drive slowly, the turning by the small trees can easily be missed.

After leaving Aus, the road descends rapidly from the edge of the central highlands plateau to the desert floor, where it cuts a perfectly straight swathe through the sand dunes for a further 120 km until it reaches Lüderitz. The last stretch through the Namib Desert is one of the most stunning drives in Namibia, and along its length is a line of telegraph poles, occasionally studded with the nests of social weaver birds, and the sand laps the edge of the road in the wind. Allow yourself time to stop and to enjoy the calming silence, and stop off at the watering hole for the desert horses too. At the time of writing the railway that runs along the side of this road was being re-laid between Aus and Lüderitz. The intention is to use it to carry zinc to the coast for shipment from the Skorpian Mine at Rosh Pinah, south of Aus....read more