Skeleton Coast

Skeleton Coast
Coast
Otavi, shipwrecked 1945
Coordinates: 21°36′44″S 14°32′24″E / 21.61222°S 14.54000°E / -21.61222; 14.54000
Location	Namibia
Part of	Namib Desert coast
Offshore water bodies	Atlantic Ocean, Kunene River, Swakop River
Etymology	Named for whale and seal bones that used to litter the coast, partly due to whaling, and for the thousands of shipwrecks
Dimensions
• Length	310 miles (500 km)

The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia. Immediately south of Angola, it stretches from the Kunene River to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San people (formerly known as Bushmen), of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

On the coast, the upwelling of the cold Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs (called cassimbo by the Angolans) for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, rainfall rarely exceeds 10 millimetres (0.39 in) annually, and the climate is highly inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf on the beaches. In the days before engine-powered ships and boats, it was possible to get ashore through the surf, but impossible to launch from the shore. The only way out was by going through a marsh hundreds of kilometres long and only accessible via a hot and arid desert.

The coast is largely made up of soft sand occasionally interrupted by rocky outcrops. The southern section consists of gravel plains, while north of Terrace Bay the landscape is dominated by high sand dunes.

Skeleton Bay is known as a great location for surfing. The Salty Jackal, a backpackers lodge located in Swakopmund, and Surf Guide Namibia, a local tour guide and surf school are currently the only groups that run guided surf trips along the Skeleton Coast.^[1]