A lot has gone on about land issues in this area and some of it has been given back to the San People but even they have let the diamond industry close this land off so that for hundreds of kilometres there are no access to the beach.
The diamonds on the west coast are not mined in place (in the kimberlites where they were formed) but are alluvial diamonds. They are found in the sand along the coast and offshore (not in sand then) and have been brought to where they are found by rivers, predominantly the Orange River which is the main river draining to the west coast from central southern Africa.
In the last post I talk about Kleinsee. It first was a farm, then it became a company town which was closed to the public.. Even now that the mine in Kleinzee is closed (De Beers is trying to sale or at least sub contract - I am not sure) you can only enter the town by showing a piece of identification at the gates and you have to leave before 6:00pm. Just south of Kleinzee, within the gated area, there is a beach that De Beers kept open originally for their staff in Kleinzee. It is now open to the public (as long as you pass the gate and leave before 6:00pm) and because of how remote Kleinzee is and how people think of it as closed the beach is obviously quite deserted. It is a lovely place and I spent quite a bit of time walking the beach during the time I spent on the west coast. I normally say that I was in Port Nolloth the nearest town North of Kleinzee because people know where Port Nolloth is, whereas nobody knows Kleinzee. I was actually staying at a farm outside Kleinzee (so I could stay past 6:00pm) so in a totally isolated spot.
Here is an interesting article about the property, the diamonds, how they got there and what DE Beers is doing.
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