Skeleton Coast

3 Apr

We find ourselves in a pretty inhospitable part of the world, where many have seen the last of their days.

Come and learn a little about this coastline turned graveyard, where some of the many carcasses still lay.

The coast of skeletons

Namibia’s northern coastline has the perfect name in ‘Skeleton Coast’, mainly because if you’re paying attention you’ll be able to see the bones from washed up whales and seals, not to mention a shipwreck or two. The Skeleton Coast itself stretches about 500km between Swakopmund, an old German colonial town, and the border with Angola. It’s pretty much wholly uninhabited and extremely subject to the elements.

The deserts in Namibia, including the Skeleton Coast, are so wild, that the local bushmen nicknamed the place ‘the land god made in anger’. That definitely gives you a good sense as to the harshness of the place and climate, especially if those living there think the land is inhospitable.

All the way back in 1944, a bloke that went by the name of John Henry Marsh wrote a book called Skeleton Coast, and it’s in this book that he claims the Skeleton Coast got its name from mariners. He also goes on to talk about the coastline itself:

There is no more treacherous coast in the world than this. Not only has it never been completely charted, but such charts as have been drawn by observation from the sea are unreliable. The shore support little or no life, but is alive itself. It moves. Day by day, month by month, it is moving westward, further and further out to sea.

And Marsh is not wrong. Because of the Benguela currents the sand dunes are continuously shifting and moving around. The eternal inhabitants of the skeleton coast are frequently swallowed up only to then remerge further inland. Giving the creepy impression of the ghostly remains of ships slowly sailing across the desert, thanks to the beachline extending into the sea. It certainly would be unnerving to see the hollowed out skeleton of a ship as you’re wandering around in the middle of the desert.

The bones of wrecks

Along the skeleton coast, there are around 500 remains of wrecked ships that lie scattered among the sand. And not all of them are the old wooden ships that wrecked hundreds of years ago, there’s quite a few modern ships with steel hulls, so quite a selection of wrecks.

The exact number of ships that have wrecked along the skeleton coast isn’t exactly known, but 500 sounds about right, especially since you can see a wreck peeking out from the sand every couple of kilometres. With wrecks ranging from ocean liners to trawlers, it really does show the strength of the currents and winds. And with the area known as the largest ship cemetery in the world, it’s no wonder.

Once a ship comes across the strong current and a thick fog then more often than not they find themselves shipwrecked. But unfortunately that wasn’t the worst of it. While you might think that crawling out of the water after experiencing a shipwreck and being on dry land would mean that you’re back on safe ground. It was not so if you found yourself on the Skeleton Coast. Due to the remoteless of the whole landscape, you pretty much jumped out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. There’s no food or water in a desert that is largely unchartered, not to mention the continual threat of hungry animals like hyenas, jackals and the odd lion or two. Here’s Friede who during his 6 years as park ranger took the time to photograph and document 112 wrecks along the coast:

Some of [the wrecks] are found behind dunes, far onshore from the sea. Even if you survived the wreck you were probably doomed. You struggle ashore, overjoyed that you’ve been saved, and then realise that you landed in a desert and probably should have gone down with the ship.

Good grief, what a situation to find yourself in. The Swedish explorer Charles John Andersson thought it wouldn’t have been the best place to be based on his description of the Skeleton Coast in 1859:

Death would be preferable to banishment to such a country.

Well now we know how that guy feels, and maybe a little about the harshness of the place.

So we know that there are a whole heap of wrecks that now call the Skeleton Coast home, and probably will for the rest of time. Let’s take a look at a really small handful of them.

One of the most famous of the wrecks is the Blue Star Liner, the MV Dunedin Star, which at the time of its wreckage was a British cargo liner carrying supplies throughout World War II. When it wrecked on the coast it was carrying munitions, crew and a couple paying passengers, but it’s the rescue of these passengers and crew that gives us quite an interesting story and a couple more wrecks. So the ship wrecked in 1942 after it hit something and started to take on water. In order to prevent the ship from breaking up among the waves, the captain was able to beach the ship on the shore. No one died, which is a small victory, but all 21 passengers were then subjected to being stranded in what we know to be one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. With limited rations they were desperate for a rescue, but even that was laden with issues. A couple of ships and military aircraft attempted to come in close to get the passengers out safely, but in the attempt a tugboat ran aground and those people were added to the number that need to be rescued. And then while trying to drop supplies, a Lockheed Ventura bomber crashed. Both the remnants of the tugboat and the warplane can still be seen today, not too far from the Dunedin Star itself. Thankfully, everyone was eventually recused, and probably avoided ships after that.

Our next wreckage is known as the Eduard Bohlen, it’s a pretty massive wreck at almost 95 metres, but it sure does make for some nice photos. This one is a little older than the Dunedin Star, and was run aground along the coast in 1909. Over the last century the ship has been swallowed by the moving sands and has been spit out at least 500 metres inland, which makes for an interesting find in the middle of the desert.

An even older vessel to have washed up on the Skeleton Coast is from all the way back in 1860. The sad thing about this unknown vessel is that about 70 years ago 12 skeletons were found within the wreck. Even sadder than that, is a slate with the following written:

I am proceeding to a river 60 miles north, and should anyone find this and follow me, God will help him.

Naturally we don’t know what happened to the author, but if they perished their remains will probably never be found.

For a wreck that is a little bit more recent, we approach the Suiderkus, who wrecked on the coast on her maiden voyage about 40 years ago. She’s accompanied by a couple of other wrecks in the area. What’s interesting about the Suiderkus is that being a modern ship, there was an extremely sophisticated navigational system that somehow failed. And the wreckage didn’t stick around long either, after only a few months taking a beating from the coast’s elements, most of the ship had disintegrated and only the hull survives today. They sure don’t make them like they used to.

One of the most recent wrecks, also happens to be the most intact. The Zeila wrecked in 2008, but it may have been a happy ending for this one, as when it wrecked it was being towed on its way to being taken apart for scrap.

While these and all the other wrecks might not have done all that great of a job as a ship, many of them are having a pretty cracker second life as artificial reefs.

Here’s Gotfod, a tour guide along the Skeleton Coast telling us what he thinks of the place:

Sometimes I wonder how many ships have met their end here. The wreckage disappears over time, but the ghosts haven’t left.

Tourism, locals and native wildlife

These days if the mood takes you, you can visit the Skeleton Coast in the form of a tourist marvelling at the bones, not only of shipwrecks but also of long forgotten whales.

If we have a look at the Skeleton Coast in 1971, we’d see it being named as a National Park. The Park is a fair size at 1.6 million hectares, and the whole area remains pretty much untouched.

The Park looks to be divided into two parts. There’s the southern part, which goes from the Ugab River up to Torra Bay, and is freely accessible to most people. Although if you want to pass through the gate at Ugabmund or Springbockwater, then you will need a permit.

The northern part of the park goes from the top of the southern part, so Torra Bay up to Kunene at the Angola border, and is pretty much inaccessible, unless your accompanied by a qualified tour operator, then you can wander in.

So with a total area of around 16 400 square kilometres, the aim of the game is to keep the whole place as free of human impact as possible, by keeping the infrastructure and visitors to the area to a limited minimum.

But the Skeleton Coast National Park isn’t all about the shipwrecks and barren wasteland. There’s actually a plethora of animals one might see if they’re unlucky enough to be stuck in the area. Wildlife is surprisingly abundant in an area of straight desert. There’s been reports of desert-dwelling elephants wandering around, lions, cheetahs, zebras, black rhinos and even a crocodile or too. They are a rare sight though, but something that is a little more common are the antelope and springbok that wander around, or if you’re bobbing around in the treacherous waters, you might be unlucky enough to see a shark or two.

One of the animals that is really common in the area, are the South African fur seals. The Cape Cross Seal Reserve has a breeding colony of about 150 000 to 210 000 Cape fur seals. They love a good fish from the ocean, and during the breeding season almost all of them pop up onto the shore from November to December. And it’s these baby seal pups that can attract the previously mentioned apex predators, both on land and in the sea.

You might think with all these meat eating animals and desert sands that it’s not really a place that many people like hanging out at. But if that’s what you’re thinking then you would be mightly wrong. The Himba people live throughout the Kunene Region. The Himba are a semi-nomadic tribe, who mainly live on maize crops and cattle farming. It’s actually really easy to spot the Himba through quite a unique trait of theirs. They have a habit of covering their skin in otjize, which is a paste made from butterfat and red ochre. By spreading it on their skin, their skin takes on a reddish tint and by putting it through their hair they’re able to form thick braids. They put this paste on daily and because of the general lack of water the paste is a great way to keep clean, not to mention the sun protection it provides.

But the place hasn’t always been an out of the way tourist attraction. Throughout the 1800s, the place was chuck full of guano, which is dried bird droppings for those of you who don’t spend a whole lot of time around birds. And people in Europe loved this stuff, they loved it so much they would gather up thousands of tons of the guano and ship it home because it did great as a fertiliser. These days not too many still use guano in their garden beds, so the market has kind of dried up for guano.

Now if you’re heading to the area for some good fishing, then the National West Coast Tourist Recreation Area is probably where you want to be. It’s just south of the Skeleton Coast Park and is freely accessible to anyone with a thirst for fishing in their heart. You may even need to fend off a seal or two for the best catches.

For those of you who love a good adventure, then you’re in luck because you can get on board a day trip from Swakopmund. And they have everything on offer from kayaks, catamarans, quad bikes, 4x4s and scenic flights. But you kind of want to avoid swimming. Those currents can take the best swimmer out to sea. And if you won’t hear it from me, then listen to a local:

You don’t want to swim out too far. The current will take you 200 km out.

But if you’re after something a little more laid back but still falling under the umbrella of adventure then a mobile tented safari might be for you. You’ll drive along the shore from Swakopmund to Terrace Bay and then up to the Angola border. But if you want to go all the way up to Kunene River then you’ll need to go through a private outfitter, they have special permission to wander around the park and are able to run their 4x4 safaris in some of the most remote parts of Africa. Here’s Greg Welby of Africa Travel Resource telling us about the experience:

[The drive is] arguably the most remote, adventurous and exciting safaris of their type in Africa at the moment. Only a handful of government permits are available to enter this area each year, so chances are you will have an area of around 16 000 square kilometres all to yourselves. Days are filled with an endless stream of remarkable experiences, amazing landscapes, desert and coastal wildlife, historic shipwrecks and abandoned diamond mines, as well as visiting authentic Himba villages further inland. A truly life-punctuating adventure.

If you ever need the police while you’re out in the middle of the Skeleton Coast then you’re in good hands, because the world’s most remote police station sits not far from the wreck of the Suiderkus. But it’s not just a police station, it also has its own tiny little museum, with remnants of wreckages, things that are often found in wrecked ships and a whole heap of bones.

You can’t get away from a good museum at a tourist location, can you?