Crowds Come For Crayfish Festival

Luderitz’s annual Crayfish festival kicked off for the third time on Friday April 30th. Stalls, braais and marquees were all set up at harbour square on Friday and by mid-morning the festival was thriving with people from all over the country and the world enjoying themselves.
There was an abundance of crayfish being sold in all sorts of different forms, from paella, to kebabs and even in jars. Many companies used the festival as an opportunity to advertise and sell their products and services; NAMFISA were present throughout the festival giving Namibians advice and increasing their knowledge about finance, MTC had special offers for sale and there was a constant queue at their van and many independent companies and businesses had their own stalls.
Mr Fluksman Samuehl told us that the committee was overwhelmed with the turn out on the first day of the festival. The Miss Crayfish competition also took place on Friday night at Benguela Community Centre, which coincided with the Luderitz Gala Dinner, as well as a Crayfish evening at Barrels restaurant.
Luderitz Gala Dinner was held at the Nest Hotel on Friday evening to officially open the crayfish festival and welcome all the important guests to the town. By 7pm the guests had arrived which included lots of local business people, important guests from out of town and two tables of media personnel.
At 8pm the event officially started with the singing of the National anthem and the African Union anthem, then the director of ceremonies, Mr Fluksman Samuehl welcomed everyone, including the first time visitors who he is sure are bound to come again after experiencing this year’s Crayfish Festival. He stated that he thinks Luderitz will be better off once Phase 2 of the Waterfront Development Committee’s plans are complete as it will make life in town more exciting, interesting and appealing as well as become some people’s second home.
Mr Samuehl extended his apologies on behalf of President Hifikepunye Pohamba and her worship Ms.Emilia Amupewa as they could not attend the gala dinner as planned.
Bob Mould, the architect of Phase 2 of the waterfront gave a presentation on the current plans and targets. He plans for the power station part of the development to be completed in the next two years as there is high demand for the facilities that it will bring to the town.
Mr Angel Tordesillas told the guests that the power station was meant to be the last project to be tackled but has become most important. The renovation and building is also creating lots of jobs within the town, the number is currently at about 300, once the building is complete it will need a work force of around 170-220.
The power station will house lots of rooms for the Polytechnic of Namibia to use, including lecture rooms, multimedia labs, a library and a hotel school, and there is also scope to extend this further in the future.
It is an exciting development that tertiary education is being brought to Luderitz as it is an incentive for youth to stay in Luderitz, as well as being the only tertiary education centre in the South.
There will also be indoor and outdoor sports facilities including basketball, a swimming pool, kite surfing and beach soccer areas.
An exciting maritime museum will be built, which Mr. Angel Tordesillas assured us will be the best museum of the sea in Africa. If this is the case this will certainly prove to be positive for Luderitz. The intention is for the museum to be an institute of learning which will be run by the youth, hopefully all Namibian children will visit it to see what the sea is and how dependent this country and world is on it. The museum will consist of three floors and try to embody as many aspects of the seas as well as the history of Namibia, including how Luderitz has evolved with diamonds, lobsters, tourism and being the gateway to Africa.
An amphitheatre, a craft market, a youth cafe, a skate park and a ladies’ bar will be incorporated into the building and the fire station will also remain in the building.
With all the new tourism that all these facilities will bring to Luderitz the Waterfront Committee believe that there will then be a definite need for the planned hotel, and the whole project can be something Luderitz is proud of as it’s a Government and Namibian project. They are hoping that it will also assist in the development of tourism in the South, bringing more people to Oranjemund, Rosh Pinah and Luderitz, hopefully making Luderitz the Swakopmund of the South.
Next year will be the power station’s 100th anniversary. It was built during the diamond rush to provide power for the town, ironically the town will now be providing the power station’s electricity as it will be generated by wind power. Bob Mould is also in the process of designing a sustainable heating system for the building. The power station will be built like a thermos flask, a building inside a building so there is a gap between the walls which means the temperature can be controlled more easily. This will also prevent wind, dust, cold, heat and noise from entering the building.
The committee now has approval and support from ministries who have contributed N$145million so the next stages are imminent. The other plans still include a shopping centre, a hotel, a housing component, a floating restaurant and a beach which will be next to Harbour Square along Hafen Street. Cabinet has approved the donation of the land adjacent to Harbour Square to the Luderitz Waterfront Development Committee so the plans for phase 2 can go ahead.
The gala dinner also incorporated an auction, run by the sports commissioner Amos Shiyuka, to raise money for the L.W.D.C. ‘The Hitman’ donated his gloves which went, after a long fight between the top table, to Mr Tordesillas for N$43,000. Another famous guest was Eddie Moongo, Big Brother Africa’s runner up who missed out on the prize of US$200,000. He shared his experiences ‘in captivity’ with the guests, then expressed his thanks for the support from the community and how he wants to give it back. He believes Luderitz has a lot of scope due to its heritage and attractiveness and therefore is appealing to tourists.
A Member of Parliament, cabinet member and Fluksman Samuehl’s childhood friend, Bernard Esau also was impressed with the way Luderitz has coped with the economic slump and is now on its way up. A thank you was also extended to Standard Bank who donated N$30,000 to this year’s Crayfish Festival.
The festivities continued on Saturday 1st, starting early with a worker’s day celebration at the soccer stadium, attended by President Pohamba, unionists and Government officials. President Pohamba stated that he ‘hated it (the labour hire system) and I still hate it now’, so SME’s and entrepreneurs will be focussed on to create better lives for Namibians. A crayfish catching demonstration was scheduled to happen at the waterfront at 11am but unfortunately this didn’t occur, however the waterfront was still thriving with people enjoying the food, drink and activities.
A live music show also occurred on Saturday evening at the sports stadium, an expectant crowd were waiting in and outside the grounds for performers such as Gazza and Gal Level who were scheduled to come.
The concert started up at around 8pm and we were disappointed to hear that due to unforeseen circumstances Gazza would not be attending.
Local bands and performers opened the show and Gal Level also performed.
The crowd were fairly enthusiastic, if not very big and people from all over the country were there to enjoy it. The crayfish festival came to a close on Monday 3rd of May, the waterfront was cleared of its stalls and marquees and the crowds dispersed.
Local businesses benefited from the Crayfish Festival, with an influx of national and international tourists going to shops and restaurants. Many businesses adapted for the weekend, adopting special menus like Ritzi’s restaurant and Diaz Point Coffee Shop, the new Oyster Bar also arranged special opening times just for the weekend.•