The busses used to drive through town and picking up people/workers dropping them off at the mine and in town, your private vehicle was parked in the garages that you saw. Usually only the foreman had a company vehicle to drive with in town usually on standby etc. Oranjemund in Namibia, Alexander Bay, Kleinzee was exactly the same as most of the diamond mining town in the area. I was born in Oranjemund, best time of my life.

Thank you so much for Sharing this Video of a town We once lived in for 8 years. Sad to see Koingnaas that was once so beautiful with lush green grass and filled with life is almost unrecognizable .... things fade away....

Lovely to see the place where i grow up from 1978-1990....just to walk the earth was wonderfull....De Beers was good to us in those days....the swimming pool and tenniscourts i will never forget and the guys i call my friend ......the best way is the Koingnaas way .thanx guys ....love it

Blessed Christmas to both of you and your loved ones - and THANK YOU

Happy Christmas to all from italy 🌈🌈🌈

Inspirational video we just got back after a trip to Cape Town via the Karoo promised myself to do a bike trip to Namibia one day thanks for the video

My wife and I just love watching and listening to your comments and laughs. It's like travelling with friends. Thank you for providing so much pleasure. We wish you both a blessed Christmas and may 2023 be the same with great joy and God's peace.

I see you found the chap that lives in what used to be the De Beers community center building with its revolving front door, I forget his name. He owns a lot of the properties in Koingnaas as well as the air strip and only hangar. He also has a number of offroad "pyp karre" that you can rent to play around in the old mine dumps - great fun. I was there in December 2019

I haven't watched any of your videos recently because I was in Jo'burg for a few days and load shedding is affecting internet and other life's comforts. I wanted to wish you, Sonja and the rest of your "back seat "invisible" DustBugs" Blessed Christmas and a better New Year than we have had in recent years. May God bless us all 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

My uncle worked there for De Beers in the 80s. Thanks for this amazing video!!!

Thanks for showing us Koingnaas. Been bucketlisted forever, but never been.

So sad to see what has happened to Koingaas. Used to go work there many times in the early 90s and even went there for the Oktoberfest, not sure if that's what it was. Had a great time. Ofcourse, the usual suspects have dropped it like a hot potato since they've pulled all the riches out and enriched themselves. Just like Jagersfontein and many others.

Remote, vast, serene and beautiful 👌👌👍

Curtis you dont have to explain to us anymore Sonia take over now,just need to show herself now😊

I was waiting patiently to learn more about this small community.

Julle moet n lekker kersfees he hoor . En n prosperous volgende jaar. Dankie vir nog n video.

Good evening folks i work in Kleinzee an Koingnaas from 84 to 89 great place to have experianced life sad in gone some what down hill a friend of mine who lives in Kleinzee posted your post about Kleinzee on the group I lived in Kleinzee will be watching your channel with great interest #respect

Thank you it was nice to see this remote town. Have a blessed Christmas and i catch you in the new year.

Love the ostriches! Yes, they do trot but I think they flounce along, like a bunch of flerries! This town will never run out of garages. Thanks for a very interesting video, really enjoyed. Wishing you a very blessed, merry and safe Christmas🥰😍😘

Well at last I have seen a lot more of Koingnaas than I have seen before...we always just drove in to that shop with the Bottle store....that is now closed...that shop was well stocked before. Last time we were there to put in fuel Dudley was the owner, he also took us on the shipwreck route there along the coast. Next stop I suppose will be the windy Kleinzee....another very interesting little place...I think you can still buy a house there....maybe even dig for diamonds.. 🙂. A very Merry Christmas for you and Sonia.

Really is back of beyond. Reminds me of an outback mining town.

The streets kept up with the new design we see across South Africa now, from Tygerdal, Avondale, Oosterzee, to Sandton, Rosebank and beyond. It is said to have been designed by the fashionistas that had brought holey jeans.

The town itself is a diamond, perhaps a little unpolished, however with the right investment it too can shine bright once more. Many entrepreneurs unfortunately think that they can strike it rich by attempting to rejuvenate businesses that have long closed down, unfortunately many do not perform market research and burn their fingers with their ambitious plans. To the trained eye those garages of the homes are significant as each has a covered section for a boat or a caravan... the developers designed prosperity into those homes. Speaking of which, I was driving with my client in his Porsche where I remarked that I had just been in Denver next to Joburg (he grew up there, poor)...and had seen a pothole large enough that his Porsche could fit into it, he replied "so its (Denver) improving" ...and that mindset describes many of the towns and villages that we have visited with you. Some see dumps whilst others see diamonds. What I have realized is that the number 1 asset class in real estate is residential housing and not commercial and industrial. Your videos showcase this.

The long garages...don't know what you have found out but Alexander Bay had the same set up with residents living inside the 'binne kamp', ie. people living within the security fences of the mines. They stored their cars on the outside in these buildings.

I suppose this was a lovely place to live and work before 94, My question is where is the water for such a large town coming from? If you look at the size of some of those trees and even the sports fields there must have been plenty water at some stage. Such a heartache that a once thriving country is going down the drain.

The bridge washed away just shows the power of water. If someone could revive this little place it would be great it must be so pleasant to stay in such a quite place.

Thanks!

Hi guys amazing video another eye opener plenty of ostriches perhaps the are for food? The mine company looked after the workers great accommodation sports fesilities etc great to see the town is tidy and people are investing in it unusual to see the trailer houses they are very popular in the UK for holiday homes and retirement homes thanks for your video and may you and your wife sonjer have a lekker Christmas also to all the dustbugs viewers merry Christmas and a happy new year cheerio till the next one

Hello you 2!! I'm sorry but all I can say is Depressing😔!! Goodoze for the 2 men that wants to bring change and make it better! I will be in total depression if I had to stay there even just for a night🥴 But what a pity

Happy Holidays to Dustbug travel

So sad to see the deserted town... would be wonderful to relocate people to the town and figure out a sustainable living for them.

Aahhh! Just getting better and better!

Thank you. Thank you so much. Dankie dat julle my gewys het hoe bitter bevoorreg ek was om in Koiingnaas te kon bly in die 1960's toe Nama Vent daar gestaan het opsoek na diamante en waar op die plaas dit die beste sou wees om te myn. We lived in caravaan's with, what were refered to as "leanto's(sections of walling fit together to for a kitchen living room and extra room)added on. We were standing against a hill with all the makeshift houses facing the white dunes that could be glips in some photo's. A long stretch of road ran down to the dunes with the clubhouse(were my dad tought me to play pool) on the left and inbetween the housing and the clubhouse, an airfield on the right. At the bottom, the road turned to the left and meandered along the coast in the direction of Kleinzee. A nice sandy road with some of the best "sloepe" for the best crayfish catching (big daddies not the stuff that are found on our PnP or Checkers stores). So wish you could have seen the then Koiignaas. To be honnest this Koiignaas is heartbreaking. 💔💔 Have a blessed Chrismas tomorrow and drive safe, be safe.

Hi Lovely Hosts, Am just confused by the spelling of this unique place. There are a few versions here. In the subject it is spelled Koingnaas, Trudie who lived here is spelling it two ways Koingnaas but also Koiignaas. There is also mention that it might be Koi!gnaas. And Edward’s version is Koiingas.

Namaqualand has Eureka another Afrikaner Autonomous Community like Orania I hope that you guys make a video about Eureka in Namaqualand if you are still in Northern Cape Video about Eureka Whites-only town on the cards in Namaqualand First Orania, now Eureka. Whites only enclave in South Africa

Hi you two! Thanks again for an interesting trip. There must still be many diamonds beneath that sand and the ostriches. I wonder why the mining stopped. The town is still reasonably neat ( 'cept for the stunning pot holes) but one wonders for how long. It seems very lonely there. Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and keep safe!

Thank you for the great entertainment through the year. Hubby and I find the little dorpies you visit so interesting. I lived in Dewetsdorp until I was 5, so loved to see it is still going strong. Sad about so many others. What do you and Sonia do for a living to be able to travel so frequently? It is such a privilege. Have a blessed Christmas and hope 2023 will treat you well. Keep doing what you are doing and we will keep watching.

The second i in Koiingas was originally an ! indicating a click sound in the following letters

Looks a bit spooky, how many people lives there? What are they doing for a living? Understand in the papers there is still "illegal" mining...?

Merry Christmas and a happy new year 😘

Sonia, as a linguist, may better understand than I do, why wrong spelling and pronunciation gets accepted. Koiingnaas was always spelled with two i's, and it recently lost one i. I am perplexed. I can be very dogmatic about language, as our teacing at school had been kinetically induced, the posterior is where I received applied English. My pet peeve is Awestroileuns that can say 'bundutec' but not 'bundutop.' I try to figure out why that is.

where are the people in these towns??

I would say, slow down your camera panning (moving from left to right fast) dit maak n mens dronk, veral na n paar weintjies

Being somewhat slow on the uptake I assumed that Klein [Oqis] was a San or Khoi Khoi word until I heard it spelled out.

Wealthy took wat they needed and disapeard