The Skeleton Coast in Namibia
The Skeleton Coast is one of our planet’s most beautiful places. It derives its name from the bones and shipwrecks scattered along its beaches and is one of the most inhospitable and least visited places on earth. Close on 300,000 hectares of the 2 million hectare National Park has been set aside for an exclusive safari experience for those wishing to really get away. It is wild, desolate and uninhabitted and stunningly beautiful. The Skeleton Coast has everything, from soaring sand dunes that roar, wonderful vast pastel coloured plains, towering canyons and mountains, salt pans to seal colonies and ghostly shipwrecks.
The Benguela Current brings cool, plankton and fish rich waters all the way from the Antarctica and moderates the temperatures in the region. Mean temperatures year round vary from a high of 28 degrees Celsius to a low of 10 degrees Celsius. Summers are incredibly mild, even though we are in the desert. The cool ocean air meets the warm desert air and nearly every morning mists cover the coastline, bringing life-sustaining moisture to the desert’s fauna and flaura.
On the coast the upwelling of the cold Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs (called “cassimbo” by the Angolans) for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, rainfall rarely exceeds 10 millimetres (0.39 in) annually and the climate is highly inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf on the beaches. In the days of human-powered boats it was possible to get ashore through the surf but impossible to launch from the shore. The only way out was by going through a marsh hundreds of miles long and only accessible via a hot and arid desert.
Our safaris here are unlike any of our safaris in other regions. Breakfast is enjoyed in camp and then we head out all day into the Park. We take along a picnic lunch and only return at sunset. The days are full, rewarding and enriching. This is an experience that will rival anything in Africa for those who enjoy the excitement of wild and remote places.
Skeleton Coast
