The Twilight Zone: Gross Barmen in Namibia

Leaving Zanzibar, we headed for our last, new country in Africa this trip - Namibia. As Namibia had a reputation for having good infrastructure and being relatively safe, we rented a small car and decided to drive ourselves around the country. First stop was for a night at a hot springs resort, hilariously named Gross Barmen, that came highly recommended by a friend who had lived in Namibia several years ago.

We followed the directions to Gross Barmen, and eventually found ourselves driving down a long dirt road in the middle of nowhere as twilight approached. When we reached the gates, Josh insisted that they were lost... after all, we seemed to have arrived at a water treatment plant. It was industrial looking and there was not a soul in sight. But we asked the guard, and he told us (to our confusion and sort of relief) that we had indeed reached Gross Barmen.



Pulling through the gates and walking around the property was an experience in urban archeology. The spa complex was large, including indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, dining rooms, and many individual bungalows. The entire compound was designed in the 1960s and the decor reflected that abundantly. Nothing in the compound had been updated, and only superficial repairs had been made. The place had fallen into an obvious level of decay. Pulling in, we saw that we were the only guests in the entire complex. The place looked like a cross between an old wild west ghost town and the mock 1950 towns the US government used to test the effects of nuclear weapons. To say this place was creeping us out was an understatement. Josh was convinced that zombies were going to emerge from some of the dilapidated huts nearby and eat our brains.




Talking with the staff, we were assured that people came all the time, but all evidence seemed to point to us being the first guests in a while. A telling note - the sad little convenience store at the spa had food artifacts all neatly stacked on the shelves, most with dates from years ago.

At dinner, one other guest arrived, an Afrikaner, who was just traveling through and needed a place to sleep the night. He said he had heard of Gross Barmen years ago as a very popular resort and decided to visit. But other than him, and a staff of about 6 that seemed to be milling around happily with no clients to wait on, we had the place to ourselves. Truly a unique experience--if in Namibia during Halloween, we recommend going here for the creepy effect.