Chapter 916 Walvis Bay Railway

The desert is solitary and the sun is setting in the long river. The Namib Desert in Southwest Africa is not inconsistent at all. With the completion of other main line railways, East Africa has finally begun 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, vegetation relies on fog to obtain its main water source.

"Leder, am I dazzled? That's an elephant!" Vasily, a railway worker, said in amazement as he stared at a group of elephants passing by on the road next door.

There is a road directly from Walvis Bay to Mongu City. This road is naturally built in the hinterland of the desert, and the Walvis Bay Railway is also built along the road, which means it is also in the desert, so Vasily almost thought that something appeared in his eyes. hallucination.

"What's all this fuss about? That's a desert elephant. It's different from the grassland elephants we usually see. I remember that there is also a forest elephant in the Congo Basin, so you still haven't seen enough." Leder introduced to Vasily quite proudly.

"The area around here is full of sand. What do they eat to maintain such a large size?" Vasily didn't believe it. After all, Vasily had seen a lot of elephants on the grassland, but those elephants were not short of food!

"Look carefully, are 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 has heavy fog and a lot of vegetation depends on it. As a result, it has developed a completely different way of living from other desert plants in the world."

"Anyway, you will understand after you have stayed in the Namib Desert for a long time. I also listened to some old-timers and realized this more intuitively when I was building the Walvis Bay Highway. Not only elephants, but also the Namib Desert There are also lions, zebras and other animals you have seen in grassland areas, and you will get used to them in the future.”

Of course, Leder said it casually, but his next move shocked Vasily.

Leder took out his pistol, loaded the bullet skillfully, and then shot in the direction of the elephants.

"boom……"

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

"Why did you suddenly shoot and startle me?" Vasily said with some resentment.

"Of course it's for safety. Elephants are dangerous animals. If there weren't too many of them and we didn't have enough manpower, I wouldn't just fire a blank shot as a warning."

The sound of gunfire attracted the attention of the rear guard, who also asked Leder what happened.

"It's okay, Hope, it's just that there was a herd of desert elephants in front of us just now. I fired a gun to scare them away."

"Don't be so reckless next time something like this happens. Even though we have weapons in our hands, we still leave such dangerous matters to us." Hope reminded him unsurprisingly, "You see, the black people next to you are so scared. Dare to work."

As East African railway workers, they are actually paired with black laborers as substitutes. Only technically difficult jobs will be done by our own people.

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

"Very good, as long as the task can be completed within the construction period, you can decide what's appropriate. After all, if black people riot, it will be quite a headache. Don't think that if you have a weapon in your hand, you will be foolproof. I have thought so before. People were killed in the end.”

What Hope said is of course true. Today's black people in East Africa are no longer "uninformed" natives. Under the management of East Africa, they have also come into contact with many new affairs.

For example, guns that were previously considered "monsters" have returned to their correct perception. They are weapons used by East Africans. As long as they pull the trigger, they can become "patriots".

It has to be said that the black indigenous people have also "opened their eyes to the world" with the development of East Africa, but this has also caused the East Africans to "fall off the altar" in the eyes of the indigenous people.

It turns out that they are not an iron wall, they just have better weapons to defeat us. With this understanding, many black people naturally take risks.

Of course, this has also strengthened the determination of the East African government. In the future, these "scourges" must not be allowed to remain in East Africa. They should be allowed to cause disasters in other "civilized worlds"!

"Hope, we have been working together for a long time. You also know that I was in Southwest Africa before. I naturally understand the truth behind this and will never cause trouble." Leder assured Hope.

Later, he asked Hope: "Is there any specific news about the railway construction in the rear? I wonder if they have been completed? I just want to finish this section in the Namib Desert as soon as possible. It is too painful to stay here." "

What Leder is talking about is 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 Homas Plateau.

The railway construction in the Homas Plateau section is related to the progress of the project in the Namib Desert section. After all, only after the Homas Plateau section is completed can building materials be transported from the inland faster.

"You don't need to worry about this. There are currently less than fifty kilometers left for the railway to connect with the Namib Desert. Now that Windhoek has been identified as the new capital of Southwest Africa in the future, the project is progressing very quickly. "

In the past, the political center of Southwest Africa was naturally Walvis Bay, and the military center was Swakopmund to the north of Walvis Bay. However, with the construction of Windhoek in East Africa, it became the center of Southwest Africa with its superior geographical and climatic conditions. Africa’s “upstart” cities.

Windhoek is the capital of Namibia in the past. In the original history, the Germans established a city there in 1890 and it became the capital of German Southwest Africa in 1892. The capital of the German colony there was Swakopmund at the beginning.

Now East Africa has established Windhoek as the capital of Southwest Africa, which is actually consistent with the practice of Germany 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 East African subsidies.

In the past, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund were obviously more important. They were the only two large-scale west coast ports in East Africa. However, with the occupation of Angola by East Africa, East Africa had better options such as Luanda and Cabinda on the west coast, so the status of the two places naturally declined.

Of course, the importance of the two places is mainly in terms of economic value, and they are still very important in terms of strategy. After all, it is related to East Africa’s main marine strategic deployment in the southwest region and is one of the areas that the East African Navy attaches more importance to.

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

Just like the Walvis Bay Railway, except for Walvis Bay, Wendeke, and Deke, only the regional economy outside Southwest Africa is relatively developed.

In the next few years, the Walvis Bay Railway will not have too much passenger flow and freight volume. After all, Walvis Bay now has only a little fishery output, and Wendeke is just starting out. The whole 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, or the highest-level trunk railway. After all, the East African government has never considered it completely from an economic perspective.

This is a bit like the Siberian Railway of Tsarist Russia. The Siberian Railway is still under construction and it is still a long way from being fully completed.

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.