The Skeleton Coast

The Atlantic Ocean side of Namibia is known as the Skeleton Coast. The name Skeleton Coast was invented by John Henry Marsh, as the title for his book he wrote chronicling the shipwreck of the Dunedin Star. After the publication of the book in 1944, it became so well known that it now generally referred to as the Skeleton Coast National Park. 

The park stretches from the Kunene River to the north for approximately 500km to the Ugab River in the south and protects about one-third of the Namibia’s coastline. 

There are the remnants of ocean liners, trawlers, galleons, clippers and gunboats buried deep into the sand. The best way viewing them would be by air. Sand, salt pan and arid mountains stretch inland for hundreds of miles with little water or substances of any kind. 

The landscape includes dunes, canyons and mountain ranges all of which are synonymous with Namibia. 


The Portuguese navigator and explorer Diogo Cão, under orders of King João II, was to discover regions along the west coast of Africa. During his second voyage, Cäo reached Cape Cross in 1486, the first European to visit the area and two years before Bartholomeu Dias successfully rounded Cape of Good Hope. 

The original Cape Cross was removed by the commander of the German Navy and taken to Berlin.The inscription on the cross reads, in English translation “In the year 6685 after the creation of the world and 1485 after the birth of Christ, the brilliant, far-sighted King John II of Portugal, ordered Diogo Cão, knight of the court, to discover this land and to erect this padrão here”
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Today Cape Cross is a protected area under the name of Cape Cross Seal Reserve. The reserve is a home to the largest Cape fur seals in the world.


Mining is the biggest contributor to Namibia’s economy, and the majority of its revenue comes from diamond mining.  Interesting rocks and minerals can be picked up around in mines, quarries, ocean cliffs, beaches, riverbanks and road cuts.