Skeleton Coast National Park

Remote Beauty

Once you enter the National Park, Skeleton Coast reveals a stunning beauty. You may not expect spectacular wildlife sights. We spotted only few animals – jackals, cormorants and a dead hyena. But if you stop and linger you experience the exceptional mixture of ocean, desert and history in form of shipwrecks and abandoned mining facilities. And in the northern part of the Park many plants like welwitchias colorize the desert dunes.

Unique landscape, wildlife and native peoples.

In November of 2013 I joined a small group of travelers that toured Nambia with Overseas Adventure Travel. We flew to Johannesburg, South Africa and stayed overnight and then flew to Windhoek, Namibia. After spending a couple of nights in the Capital of Namibia we flew on to Sossusvlei in the Namib desert and stayed at a beautiful lodge where we went on game watching trips and saw many Oryx, gazelles, jackles, eagles, and ostrich. Sundowners in the desert were unique and wonderful. We then went to Sossusvlei and climbed some of the huge pink sand dunes that the region is famous for. We then flew to Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. A cruise of Walvis Bay is not to be missed. They have oyster farms there and they were served with Champagne on the half shell. Giant white pelicans came in for feeding as well as two or three large cape fur seals. Dolphins and whales were also swam near our boat. Swakopmund was an interesting place with many German and Dutch descendants from the colonial days when the country was known as Southwest Africa. We drove to The Cape Cross Seal Colony on the Skeleton Coast were huge numbers of seals could be seen birthing their pups. Many still had their placentas attached! We then flew to Damaraland to see Desert Elephants and other wildlife unique to that very arid land. The lodge again was remarkable and comfortable. A visit to the local boarding school was enjoyable. We then flew to Etosha national Park which is the size of Swizerland!. The lodge had a watering hole outside the fence and a wide range of wildlife came in to drink. Black Rhinos came in at night. White rhinos are also in the park. Game walks were included with rifle armed guides to protect against prides of lions in the area.
If anybody would like to use OAT they have a online video of the Nambian tour on www.OatTravel.com. I would recommend this country for touring as it is unique in landscape, wildlife and local tribes.
Sidney Crain

A remote and special location.

I was fortunate to win this trip, my third visit to Namibia, in a wildlife photography competition. The Skeleton Coast is not easy to get to, and I was staying in one of the more remote camps near the border with Angola, but it is well worth the time spent in transit. The wildlife is not as abundant as some other safari locations but is nevertheless special, including crocodiles and Goliath herons on the Kunene river in a desert landscape that resembles something from another planet. Food, weather, and accommodation were all superb. It's an amazing location!

Great park where one can see beach creatures and also land animals. This huge expanse of territory has few visitors and is a great camping destination for the adventurous self-caterers.

Fog and sand, desert lions and ship wrecks, whales and Cape fur seals. There is no place like the Skeleton Coast.

Beautiful - this country is a most-see.

An awesome sight to see so many seals living in one area.

Cape Cross Seal Colony was incredible, the scenery was coastal salt flats.

This is one of the most remote place on earth. It's simply stunning.

Ride an ATV across endless gigantic dunes beside the sea! A fantastic day, great fun. There are other activities too, but I only did the half-day ATV riding. It was fantastic! Make sure you have big sunglasses or goggles. They provide a helmet. The other wonderful thing I saw here was the Cape Fur Seal colony at Cape Cross -- another amazing sight! Hundreds of thousands of fur seals lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean.