The Skeleton Coast Park is one of our planet's most inhospitable, but hauntingly beautiful places - it is wild, desolate and uninhabited. Located north of Swakopmund, it has everything from roaring sand dunes, windswept plains, towering canyons and salt pans to seal colonies, and even one of the most productive fishing grounds anywhere. The remains of shipwrecks found scattered along the coast bear witness to the numerous ships which have wrecked upon these desolate shores.

Photo courtesy: Wilderness safaris

The Benguela Current helps provide its aura of mystery and impenetrability with dense coastal fogs and cold sea breezes. It also brings cool, fish and plankton-rich waters all the way from Antarctica and moderates the temperatures in the region. 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 flora. This accounts for the unique ecosystem, which gives life to most unusual plants. The strange ‘elephant’s foot’ plant anchors itself in rock crevices while desert succulents like lithops, look exactly like pebbles until a tiny yellow flower emerges.

Animals found in the plains include gemsbok, springbok, jackal, ostrich and brown hyena, while black rhino, lion and giraffe roam up and down the dry river courses. Elephants are animals that you would least expect to find here, but they have become specially adapted to their desert home and have even been filmed surfing down sand dunes.


The windswept dunes and flat plains give way in places to rugged canyons with walls of richly coloured volcanic rock and extensive mountain ranges. Other areas of interest are the clay castles of the Hoarusib, the saltpans near the Agate Mountain, and the seal colony at Cape Frio.

This strange land is worth a visit for the intrepid explorer - a safari experience that will rival anything in Africa for those who enjoy the excitement of wild and remote places.

South of Walvis Bay, situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Namib dunes, is Sandwich Harbour, a unique wetland. This small area contains a large saltwater lagoon, extensive tidal mudflats and a band of reed-lined pools fed by freshwater springs – which together form one of the most important refuges for bird life in Southern Africa. It offers food and shelter to countless thousands of migrants every year with up-to 30 different species of bird at the harbour at any one time.

Tamba Africa recommends

Skeleton tours: fly in to experience this desolate coast, view the shipwrecks and admire the unusual landscape. Freshwater springs create rare oases in the desert that sustain pockets of wildlife. Springbok, gemsbok (oryx), the rare desert elephant, brown hyena, jackal, ostrich and occasionally even lion can be spotted in this rugged terrain, alongside desert adapted vegetation.

Cultural Tours: visit authentic Himba settlements, just outside the park, for an incredible cultural experience.



Safari camps and accommodation on the Skeleton Coast.

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