Skeleton Coast National Park is in Northern Namibia.

Understand

Namibia's Skeleton Coast was once and is still a synonym for the horrors a sailsman could face when his ship sank. All along the coast are the bodies of ships and there are many stories of sailors dying or only escaping the desert by accident.

• The Skeleton Coast National Park has its southern boundary at the Ugab river and stretches northward to the Namibian border with Angola.

This is a very desolate area with often unchanging scenery. Apart from a few fish camps and the rare village, there is no human habitation for many kilometers.

Flora and fauna

The Cape Cross seal colony attracts many visitors each year, overwhelmed by the huge number of about 60,000 seals. There are so many of them that the waves of the ocean look as though they were composed of seals. Replicas of the Portuguese crosses can be found at the site, too.

Getting there

The southern third of the park can be explored independently, but the area north of Terrace Bay is restricted and may only be visited as a guest with one of the tourist concession holders.

There are two entry gates to the park, one at the southern border of the park at the Ugab River mouth and the other on the eastern border at Springbokwasser

By car

The main coastal road (C34) starts at Swakopmund and follows the coast north up to the Ugab River mouth.

An alternative route is west from Khorixas.

Traveling around

The major road in the area is a salt road. These are very slick if wet. Otherwise, they seem like bad pavement if not recently regraded.

See

• Examine the lichen fields supported by the nightly fog. At times it is amazing that anything lives in such a desolate area. Enjoy many kilometers of undeveloped coastline that extends without limit.
• Over two hundred bird species are regular habitants of the coast line.

Things to do

The coast is considered to be prime surf angling area.