African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 916 Walvis Bay Railway

The phrase "lonely smoke rising from the vast desert, the setting sun over the long river" is not inappropriate to describe the Namib Desert in southwestern Africa. With the completion of other trunk railways, East Africa has finally started the construction of the Walvis Bay Railway.

Although it is close to the sea, the Namib Desert does not enjoy the nourishment of Atlantic rain. Like Chile and Peru, the local vegetation relies on fog for its main water source.

"Ledel, am I dazzled? Those are elephants!" Vasily, a railway worker, said in amazement as he looked at a group of elephants passing by on the road next door.

There is a highway from Walvis Bay that goes directly to Mongu City. This highway is naturally built in the heart of the desert, and the Walvis Bay Railway is also built along the highway, which is also in the desert, so Vasily almost thought he was hallucinating.

"What a fuss! That's a desert elephant, different from the savanna elephants we usually see. I remember there is also a kind of forest elephant in the Congo Basin, so you still don't know enough." Reidel introduced to Vasily quite complacently.

"There's sand all around here. What do they eat to maintain such a big size?" Vasily was a little unconvinced. After all, Vasily had seen many elephants on the grassland, and those elephants had no shortage of food!
"Look carefully, aren't these elephants a little smaller than the elephants we usually see? Desert elephants mainly live on shrubs in the desert. Although the Namib Desert is dry, it is foggy, and many plants rely on this to develop a way of survival that is completely different from other desert plants in the world."

"Anyway, you will understand it after you stay in the Namib Desert for a long time. I also heard it from some seniors. Later, when the Walvis Bay Highway was built, I felt it more directly. There are not only elephants, but also lions, zebras and other animals in the Namib Desert that you have seen in the grasslands. You will get used to it in the future."

Of course, Reidel said it casually, but his next action scared Vasily.

I saw Leider took out his pistol, loaded the bullet skillfully, and then fired a shot in the direction of the elephants.

"boom……"

Of course, Rider just fired a shot into the air above the elephants, scaring them away.

"Why did you suddenly shoot? You scared me!" Vasily said with some resentment.

"Of course it's for safety. Elephants are dangerous animals. If there weren't so many of them and we were short of manpower, I wouldn't just fire blanks as a warning shot."

The gunshots attracted the attention of the railway guard in the rear, who also asked Ryder what happened.

"It's okay, Hope. There was just a group of desert elephants ahead, and I scared them away with my gunshot."

"Don't be so reckless next time. Even though you have weapons, you should let us handle this kind of dangerous matter." Hope reminded him without being surprised. "Look, the black people next to you are so scared that they dare not work."

As East African railway workers, they are actually equipped with black laborers as substitutes, and only jobs that are technically difficult will be done by their own people.

"Don't worry! Hope, these black people just want to be lazy. After all, they are not those wild animals who don't know what guns are for."

"Very good. As long as you can complete the task within the deadline, you can handle it with discretion. After all, if black people riot, it will be a headache. Don't think that you are safe just because you have a weapon in your hand. There were people who thought so in the past, but they were killed in the end."

What Hope said was of course true. Today's black people in East Africa are no longer "unknowing" natives. Under the management of East Africa, they have also been exposed to many new affairs.

For example, the guns that were once considered "monsters" have returned to their correct understanding. They are weapons used by East Africans, and as long as you pull the trigger, you can become a "homelander." It must be said that the black natives also "opened their eyes to the world" with the development of East Africa, but this also made the East Africans "fall from the altar" in the eyes of the natives.

It turns out that they are not an impregnable fortress, but they can only defeat us with better weapons. With this understanding, naturally many blacks take risks.

Of course, this also strengthened the East African government’s determination that these “scourges” must not be allowed to remain in East Africa in the future, but rather be allowed to go to other “civilized worlds” to wreak havoc!
"Hope, we have been working together for a long time. You know I used to be in Southwest Africa. I naturally understand the principles here and will definitely not cause any trouble." Reidel assured Hope.

Then, he asked Hope, "Do you have any specific information about the railway construction in the rear? I wonder if they have completed it? I just want to finish this section in the Namib Desert as soon as possible. It's too painful to stay here."

What Laidell was talking about was naturally the plateau section of the Walvis Bay Railway. The Walvis Bay Railway is divided into two parts, one is the coastal Namib Desert, and the other is the Khomas Plateau.

The railway construction on the Khomas Plateau is related to the progress of the Namib Desert section. After all, only after the completion of the Khomas Plateau section can building materials be transported from the inland more quickly.

"You don't need to worry about that. There are less than 50 kilometers left before the railway connects to the Namib Desert. Windhoek has been identified as the new capital of Southwest Africa, so the project is progressing very quickly."

In the past, the political center of Southwest Africa was naturally Walvis Bay, and the military stronghold was Swakopmund to the north of Walvis Bay. However, with the construction of Windhoek in East Africa, it became a "newcomer" city in Southwest Africa with its superior geographical and climatic conditions.

Windhoek was the capital of Namibia in the past. Historically, the Germans established the city here in 1890, and it became the capital of German South-West Africa in 1892. The earliest capital of the German colony in the area was Swakopmund.

Now East Africa has established Windhoek as the capital of Southwest Africa, which is actually consistent with Germany's practice in the past. It is located in the center of Southwest Africa and has certain agricultural planting conditions. It is much better than Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, which only rely on subsidies from East Africa.

In the past, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund were obviously more important and were the only two sizable west coast ports in East Africa. However, as East Africa occupied Angola, there were better options such as Luanda and Cabinda on the west coast of East Africa, so the status of the two places naturally declined.

Of course, the importance of the two places lies mainly in their economic value. They are also very important strategically. After all, they are related to East Africa’s main maritime strategic deployment in the southwest region and are one of the areas that the East African Navy pays more attention to.

Of course, with the development of mineral resources in Southwest Africa in the future, places like Walvis Bay may turn around, but now Southwest Africa is actually a "bottomless pit" in the East African region.

Just like the Walvis Bay Railway, apart from Walvis Bay, Windward and Deke, only the regional economy outside Southwest Africa is relatively developed along the line.

In the next few years, it is unlikely that the Walvis Bay Railway will have too much passenger and freight volume. After all, Walvis Bay currently has only a little fishery output, and Wendeke and Dirk are just getting started. The entire southwest Africa is sparsely populated.

Therefore, for a long time in the future, the operation of the Walvis Bay railway will inevitably be at a loss. If it were not for a country like East Africa, it would be difficult to have the power to build a railway in Southwest Africa, let alone the highest-level trunk railway. After all, the East African government has never considered it entirely from an economic perspective.

This is a bit like the Siberian Railway of Tsarist Russia. The Siberian Railway is still under construction and there is no sign of completion in the foreseeable future.

The Walvis Bay Railway in East Africa is 40% complete, which also shows the gap between the two countries. Although the Walvis Bay Railway is far shorter than the Trans-Siberian Railway, the difficulty is no less. It's just that the gray beasts of Tsarist Russia probably can't stand the horrible weather in Siberia, while the black slaves in East Africa can still accept the Namib Desert area.

(End of this chapter)