Wlotzkasbaken or Wlotzka's Baken (, often shortened to Wlotzka or Wlotzkas) is a holiday settlement on Namibia Atlantic coast, situated approximately halfway between Swakopmund and Hentiesbay. The area around the village lies within the Dorob National Park and features extensive lichen colonies. Founded as a holiday angling spot in the 1930s, Wlotzkasbaken developed into a settlement of unusual design and administration. Without any fences or boundary walls, privacy is achieved only by the distance between the houses. Titles in the village are held by the Regional Council and only leased to the residents. A legal battle ensued about how to expand the resort without disadvantaging lessees who built houses on land they do not own. As the expansion of Wlotzkasbaken stopped in the 1970s when recreational developments were exclusively for Whites, it still has no residents of previously disadvantaged population groups. History The place is named after a trigonometrical beacon, the only one that remained from a land survey along the Skeleton Coast in the 1930s. Paul Wlotzka, a member of the surveying team, chose this place to erect a storage structure to support his frequent horse cart rides between Swakopmund and Hentiesbay. He soon discovered that the coastal waters boast an abundance of fish which he caught and sold. His bragging about the find soon lured more anglers who pitched temporary structures during holidays since approximately 1936. In 1955, 87 erven were surveyed and leased to holiday makers. Later this number was increased to 110. Wlotzkasbaken was proclaimed a peri-urban area in 1972, and a village in 1992. A Government Notice from 1993 converted it back to a settlement area, denying the establishment of a Village Council for self-governance. The place is thus still under the direct jurisdiction of the Regional Council of the Erongo Region, a situation that has been described as a "burden". Geography Wlotzkasbaken is situated on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 30 km north of Swakopmund. The main road C34 runs past the village. Excluding the village itself, the entire area is part of Dorob, Namibia's eighth and newest National Park. In the vicinity of Wlotzkasbaken the extensive lichen fields are of particular ecological importance. A large community of Teloschistes lichenised fungi is situated 4 km north of the village. There are only six people more or less who permanently reside in Wlotzkasbaken. During the holiday months of December and January several hundred