Luderitz, a coastal town in Namibia known for its rich maritime history, has a newly-fortified museum housed in a majestic historical building. 

This museum, set to open its doors soon, is an inspiration for education and exploration, drawing visitors from across Namibia and beyond.

At the centre of the museum’s attraction is an amazing addition of a fully-restored research vessel, once used by Namibia’s Ministry of Fisheries. This vessel, now a focal point of the museum’s exhibits, brings to life the nation’s deep-rooted connection with the sea. Coupled with recreated internal architectural details of the building, visitors are transported back in time to explore Namibia’s maritime past. The museum director and historian Eino Ngesheya said this will be the first maritime museum in Namibia. There are about 1 200 maritime museums in the world.

“We want to foster a deep understanding of the ocean, and enhance marine literacy among Namibians,” shared the museum’s director, emphasising their commitment to education. The museum aims to become a hub of educational excellence, particularly targeting young Namibians. Plans are underway to collaborate with the Ministry of Education, ensuring schoolchildren from diverse backgrounds have access to enriching programmes focused on marine ecosystems and maritime careers,” he said. 

Ngesheya further said the museum boasts a fishing processing unit, maritime trade, offshore exploration of oil and gas, and mining of the seabed; the history of navigation of the age of exploration. 

“The main attraction to the museum our living collection, they have the largest collection of ship models that are back to scale our collection is the biggest in Africa, the largest collection of commemorating coins that are maritime identity. We have oil paintings, the exhibition that we are collaborating with our museum partners who would like it to be informative and interactive, so if one visits the museum, they will leave with more insights as far as the aspects of the ocean are concerned,” he said.

The museum is located in the Waterfront building. The maritime museum is the brainchild of fisheries industry veteran Angel Tordesillas, and the Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company (LWDC).

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