Skeleton Coast

The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean coast of Namibia and southern Angola from the Kunene River to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The Bushmen of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

On the coast the upwelling of the cold Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, rain fall rarely exceeds 10mm annually and the climate is inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf on the beaches.

The coast is named for the bleached whale and seal bones which covered the shore when the whaling industry was still active, as well as the skeletal shipwrecks. More than a thousand shipwrecks of various sizes litter the coast.

Remind me again - why did we choose this for a holiday destination?


Sign in the town of Swakopmund. You are not allowed to catch fish larger than yourself?









The pier in Swakopmund.













Swakopmund, Namibia's second biggest town and traditional "summer capital", a sort of central Europe meets the African desert next to the ocean kind of place.












Having Walvis Bay Oyster for starter at the Thug in Swakopmund.











No kidding!



























The desert meet the large Atlantic. The sea is cold, have strong rip currents, large swells and lots of sharks. Not your ideal beach holiday destination.







But still very beautiful.



















A self portrait sitting on the spare tyre on the hood.




































A skeleton in the making on the Skeleton Coast.































By the salt factories they had these honesty shops by the road where you could buy a large chunk of salt crystals and put money in a box.







Cape Cross lodge. We stayed here for one night on this cold and foggy coast.








We decided on an afternoon excursion out to the Cape Cross seal reserve. When we got to the gates we discovered that we had a puncture. A bit strange since the road between Swakop and Cape Cross was really good. They call it a salt road and I think they pour brine over the gravel and this turn the surface pretty hard.









An older gentleman came over and without being asked started helping Magnus with the tyre change. Very kind!








The next day we had to stop in Hentise Bay before heading up in the mountains to have the tyre fixed. The tyres have tubes and they mend the tubes just like you would with your bike.








With the tyre changed we could drive the last few kilometers out to the seal reserve.








Thousand of seals and they are very cute and wery noisy.
























And god they smell!








Waiting for dinner at Cape Cross lodge. Spectaulare location, very nice rooms but awful food unfortunately.







Leaving the coast and heading inland over the lichen fields.

Wlotzkasbaken

Wlotzkasbaken is a ghost holiday town north of Swakop that apparently spring to life during Christmas when people escape the heat inland for the cooler coast.

Spitzkoppe

We found a whole family of Meerkats on the 4x4 approach to Spitzkoppe. They are supposed to live in the Kalahari Desert. But these are definitely Meerkats!

















Awh! How cute they are.







The Spitzkoppe (also referred to as the "Matterhorn of Namibia"), is a group of bald granite peaks located between Usakos and Swakopmund in the Namib desert. The granite is more than 700 million years old and the highest outcrop rises about 1784 meters above sea level. The peaks stand out dramatically from the flat surrounding plains. The highest peak is about 700m above the floor of the desert below.


















Making some lunch and resting the hottest mid-day hours. We had a 40 l refrigerator box in the car running off the battery. So thankfully a cold drink was always at hand.

















We spent the afternoon clambering around these very pretty rock formations.
















A little bit like the Stockholm Archipelago but with the grass plains surrounding instead of the sea.







The plains in between the rocks was a bit like the "lost world" and you half expected dinosaurs.


































We hired a local boy from the village, Richie, as a guide for 2 hrs in the evening. He showed us some of the rock paintings in the area.







Very neat and tidy weaver nests.




































Our guide Ritchie taking a picture of us with the pondoks in the background before taking us to the village and letting us taste the local alcoholic beverage. The brew is made from seeds from grass that ants collect. When the ant nests flood they bring up the seeds to dry outside the nest and the women from the village then collects the seeds and make some kind of beer from it. Not great taste but not realy unplesant either.































Deciding on a spot to set camp for the night.







A self portrait in the spectacular African sunset.







Cooking dinner. We resorted to caserols of different kinds quite a lot. When it is pitch dark it is quite conveinient to put your cast iron pot on the fire and just let it simmer away while you watch the fire and drink some wine. They have excellent beef in Namibia and then just add a variety of vegetables, onions, tomto, wine, spices and garlic and you have a great dinner. In order to save a bit of time during the day when you are on the road it is absolutely fine to have the leftovers cold for lunch with a slice of bread.









This little bird was hanging out with us at Spitzkoppe. Not very shy at all, preferring to hop around less than a meter from us.







Sunrise at Spitzkoppe.









We climed up on the rocks and had a pic-nic breakfast watching the sun rise higher on the sky and the rock dassies (looks like guineapigs and lives high up on the rocks) scurry around.










Before leaving Spitzkoppe we climed up to Bushman's Paradise. A place with a large overhang where the bushmen used to make rock paintings.


















No inland ice here so these smooth granite rocks have been formed over very long time by the wind.








So below this overhang the bushmen used to sit huddled up and paint stuff on the rock wall. The theory is that small groups of hunter gatherer roamed this area and the paintings on the wall was messages to other groups. E.g. "watch out for many scorpions", "we were 20 when we arrived now we are 19" (hence the scorpion warning perhaps?), "water can be found heading south", "we hunted giraffe" and so on. Well they certainly picked a very pretty place!