Fog, shipwrecks and seals on one of the loneliest coastlines in the world, from the Zeila wreck to the Cape Cross seal colony.
The Skeleton Coast earned its name from the whale bones and wrecked ships scattered along its shore. Here the cold Benguela current meets the hot desert, and dense fog rolls inland most mornings, sustaining lichen fields and a surprising amount of life in what looks like empty sand and gravel.
Our routes follow the coast road north from Swakopmund, past the rusting wreck of the Zeila fishing boat, to the Cape Cross Seal Reserve. The Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao raised a stone cross (padrao) here in 1486, and today Cape Cross is home to one of the world's largest breeding colonies of Cape fur seals, a spectacle of noise and movement that also draws black-backed jackals and brown hyenas.
On our itineraries the Skeleton Coast is a scenic travel day with long stops, before the road turns inland towards Damaraland.
Year round. Mornings are often foggy; the seal colony is at its busiest in the breeding season, around November and December.
Driven north from Swakopmund along the coast road; Cape Cross is roughly 1.5 to 2 hours away (approximate). Transfers run from Swakopmund.
TransfersPrivate or small-group safari from Windhoek airport: Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Damaraland and Etosha in Namibia, then Chob…
Three countries in 25 days: Sossusvlei, the Skeleton Coast, Damaraland, Himba culture at Epupa Falls and Etosha in Namib…
Salt road (C34) along the coast
Transfer north along the coast to Henties Bay, Cape Cross or the Ugab Gate of Skeleton Coast Park.
Tell us your dates and what you would like to see, and we will suggest a private route, a small-group departure or a transfer that fits.
