The Skeleton Coast

The Portuguese sailors who first navigated these waters in the 15th century called it the Costa da Morte, the Coast of Death. The San people who lived inland knew it as the Land God Made in Anger. The name Skeleton Coast came later, from the whale and seal bones that once littered the beaches, and from the bones of the sailors and travellers who did not survive their encounters with this coastline.

The Skeleton Coast runs 1,600km from the Orange River in the south to the Kunene River on the Namibia-Angola border. It is one of the most extreme coastal environments on Earth: the cold Benguela Current meets the Namib Desert at the waterline, producing dense fog that rolls inland on most mornings, powerful surf that wrecks ships that come too close to shore, and a complete absence of fresh water anywhere on the coast itself.

The coast divides into two sections that require entirely different approaches.

The southern section (from Swakopmund north to Terrace Bay) is accessible by self-drive on tar and gravel roads. It includes Cape Cross Seal Reserve, the world’s largest accessible seal colony, the Ugab River wilderness area, and the fishing camps of Torra Bay and Terrace Bay. No special permits are required.

The northern wilderness (from Terrace Bay north to the Kunene River) is one of the last true wilderness areas in Africa. No public roads enter this section. No self-drive access exists. Entry requires a permit; the only way to experience it is by fly-in safari with one of the handful of licensed operators. The reward is an environment where the Namib Desert meets the Atlantic in a landscape that has been virtually unchanged since the Portuguese first saw it 500 years ago.

The Southern Coast

Cape Cross Seal Reserve, 150km north of Swakopmund, holds over 100,000 Cape fur seals at peak season. The scale is overwhelming. Full guide: Cape Cross

The C34 coastal road north of Cape Cross continues to the Ugab River gate, the entry point for the Skeleton Coast National Park’s southern section. Torra Bay (seasonal fishing camp; December to January) and Terrace Bay (year-round; the northernmost self-drive point) are the two camps inside the park’s southern section. Full guide: Self-drive guide

The southern coast also holds several accessible shipwrecks. The Eduard Bohlen, 500m from the beach south of Sandwich Harbour, is the most accessible. Full guide: Shipwrecks

The Northern Wilderness

The restricted northern section of the Skeleton Coast holds desert-adapted lion, desert elephant in the Hoarusib River corridor, and landscapes that no vehicle road has ever crossed. Fly-in safaris operate from Windhoek or Swakopmund to private airstrips within the wilderness. Full guide: Northern wilderness