Where Is the Skeleton Coast?

The Skeleton Coast is one of the most inhospitable and hauntingly beautiful coastlines on Earth. Cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Benguela Current meet the scorching Namib Desert, creating persistent fog banks that have caused hundreds of shipwrecks over centuries. Portuguese sailors called it "As Areias do Inferno" (The Sands of Hell) because once you landed, escape overland through the desert was virtually impossible. The coast is littered with the bleached bones of whales and seals (from the 19th-century whaling and sealing industry) and the rusting hulks of ships that ran aground in fog. Despite its harshness, the coast supports unique wildlife: desert-adapted elephants and lions, Cape fur seal colonies numbering 80,000-100,000 at Cape Cross, brown hyenas, and jackals. The Skeleton Coast National Park (established 1971) protects about 16,000 square kilometres of coast and hinterland.