Kolmanskop, Namibia

Once a bustling town due to the diamond mining operation in 1908, Kolmanskop named after transport driver Johnny Coleman, is now a ghost town.
Where formerly its enormous wealth afforded the city a hospital, school, theatre, casino, the first x-ray station in the southern hemisphere as well as the first tram ever in Africa, the town is now half buried under the desert sands.

  

The decline began after World War 1, when the diamond-field was slowly exhausted due to the rampant mining.
It was eventually abandoned in 1954.
The desert, soon after, took over and the only visitors to Kolmanskop are tourists who have to trudge knee-deep through sand if they want to take in the sights of this once prosperous town