Duwisib Castle — Medieval Fortress in the Namib

One of Namibia’s most extraordinary and unlikely landmarks — a 22-room pseudo-medieval castle rising from the southern Namib desert, 72km southwest of Maltahöhe. Built in 1909 by Captain Hans Heinrich von Wolf, a Saxon artillery officer who had married Jayta Humphreys, stepdaughter of the US consul, in 1907. Von Wolf shipped sandstone, iron, wood, cement, lamps and European craftsmen — Italian bricklayers, Swedish carpenters, Irish woodworkers — to this remote desert farm. Materials were hauled 300km from Lüderitz by teams of 24 oxen.