Skeleton Coast

Overview: 

The end of the Earth – a jour­ney across the 500 kilo­me­tre haunt­ing and dra­mat­ic coast­line of Namibia’s Skele­ton Coast is as enthralling and as off the beat­en track as any explor­er can go, with the strong and relent­less Benguela cur­rents and winds of the Atlantic Ocean com­bin­ing with 100 metre sand dunes and harsh and remote des­o­late desert to cre­ate not only a strik­ing and unique noth­ing­ness land­scape – but the world’s largest ceme­tery for sailors from which this unique won­der of the world takes its name.  

In fact so harsh are the con­di­tions on the skele­ton coast – which includ­ed a com­bi­na­tion of dense fog, rest­less tides and mael­strom cur­rents — that it would not only be sailors who would meet their end on this vast desert, but whales too – with the hal­lowed out remains of ship­wrecks and whale bones still dot­ted along the coast for those unfor­tu­nate enough to have run aground in this des­o­late desert as a result of either the tough con­di­tions, through lack of water or food in the harsh desert or from the wait­ing prey­ing packs of hye­nas, jack­als or lions who served as a wel­come par­ty and patrol the shores.  

Yet while the Skele­ton Coast serves as reminder of the pow­er – and hav­oc – that nature can bring, it is also unique­ly beau­ti­ful stand­ing as a land­scape like no oth­er and so far removed from civil­i­sa­tion that a jour­ney across the coast sur­vey­ing the rust­ed remains of the ships and whales who have fall­en here that dot the coast not only make for an evoca­tive and inspir­ing jour­ney, but also give explor­ers a chance to take in the best of Africa – with parts of the Skele­ton Coast hav­ing devel­oped into one of the most unique eco-sys­tems on the plan­et, home to not only unique flo­ra but some of Africa’s big 5 who have found a way to not only sur­vive but thrive in these tough con­di­tions.  

Chris­tened also as the “land God made in anger” – thanks to its rep­u­ta­tion as a bar­ren land­scape – the vast an Skele­ton Coast, which is backed by its famed soar­ing sun-coloured dunes, extends south from the Angolan bor­der down to the town of Swakop­mund – and is offi­cial­ly divid­ed into two parts – with the south­ern part from the Ugab Riv­er to the bay of Tor­ra being open to all, and the North­ern part – which is where you’ll find the most dra­mat­ic – and in our view best scenery – only explorable with licensed oper­a­tors giv­en the chal­leng­ing and death­ly con­di­tions that await trav­el­ers there.  

Explore: Explorable by self-dri­ving 4x4, through a tour – includ­ing the famed mobile desert safari – and by the air where a scenic flight allows for dra­mat­ic and the full scale of this remark­able land­scape to be absorbed, an explo­ration across the Skele­ton Coast is one of the most unique and thrill-seek­ing adven­tures on the plan­et.  

A true oasis, the most strik­ing fea­ture those tra­vers­ing the Skele­ton Coast will come upon is undoubt­ed­ly the remains of ship­wrecks, with the ships of the Dunedin Star (ran aground 1942) and the Eduard Bohlen (ran aground 1909) undoubt­ed­ly stand­ing as the high­lights and most in-tact remains, along with the pho­to­genic Zelia ship – all of which lie as vic­tims of the harsh­ness of this vast land­scape.  

But the land­scape itself is sim­ply stun­ning and as unique as any on the plan­et – with the des­o­late yet beau­ti­ful Namib desert being tru­ly strik­ing. One of the most ancient deserts in the world, the thrill of cross­ing this desert is tru­ly sen­sa­tion­al and you’ll no doubt come upon and tra­verse the icon­ic sand dunes of the Skele­ton coast on your way, with these dunes that are con­stant­ly mov­ing known to tow­er as high as 100 meters – cre­at­ing tru­ly unique pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties and leav­ing you in awe of the immense and pow­er­ful beau­ti­ful nature of this desert par­adise.  

As well as giv­ing you a chance to vis­it the unique Skele­ton Coast town of Swakop­mund – a beach back­pack­ers par­adise – the unfor­giv­ing waters of the Benguela Coast have mixed with the Namib Desert to cre­ate not only an incred­i­ble series of lagoon – includ­ing the beau­ty of the Walvis Lagoon – but some of the most stun­ning beach­es on the plan­et, with the coast­line of the Skele­ton Coast home to a series of turquoise sand and mul­ti-coloured beach­es that tru­ly come to life as the sun sets against them – mak­ing for an incred­i­ble pho­to­graph and an immense spot of beau­ty across this treach­er­ous desert.  

Along­side being a vast stretch of won­der­ous land­scape – and one of the most unique and thrilling jour­neys on the plan­et, thanks to the windy con­di­tions meet­ing the Benguela Coast, the unique eco-sys­tem with­in the Skele­ton Coast and a good sup­ply of African Rain, the Skele­ton Coast has also become a habi­tat for Africa’s big five, with Zebra’s, Ele­phants, Black Rhi­no, Giraffe’s and Lions — all known to fre­quent the sandy shores of the coast, along with large colonies of seals, hye­nas and jack­als also found in the sands of the desert,  and the lagoons and Benguela Coast wates being home to flocks of Flamin­gos, reef fish and mul­ti­ple species of sharks – includ­ing the Apex preda­tor of the Great White Shark.  

One of the only places in the world where such wildlife flour­ish­es in the desert, the chance to glimpse this desert­ed adapt­ed wildlife in one of the few places in the world with­out mod­ern human habi­tat only adds to the won­der of the Skele­ton Coast, with those self-dri­ving across the Skele­ton Coast who are seek­ing glimpses of this incred­i­ble wildlife encour­aged to look for (or fol­low their ears or nose) the large colonies of Cape Cross Seal Colonies at the water’s edge – with these loud seals serv­ing not only as preda­tors for the reef fish, but being a tasty meal for Great White’s and Lions alike, mean­ing that where the seals are sight­ing of unique wildlife will like­ly fol­low.  

Unique and stun­ning, and offer­ing a land­scape and pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties like nowhere else on earth, the treach­er­ous con­di­tions of the Skele­ton Coast are only inhab­it­ed by the semi-nomadic indige­nous Him­ba peo­ple of the Kunene region and trav­ellers must ensure they come ful­ly pre­pared for the chal­leng­ing and remote con­di­tions before set­ting of on a thrill-seek­ing jour­ney to the end of the world and to explore the vast land­scape, tow­er­ing dunes, stun­ning beach­es, flour­ish­ing wildlife and ship­wrecked remains in the incred­i­ble unique desert land­scape of the Skele­ton Coast that is a true mar­vel and an ulti­mate won­der of the world.   

Where:  

Tru­ly stand­ing on the end of the world, the vast and mys­te­ri­ous Skele­ton Coast stretch­es from the north­ern tip of Namib­ia on the Angolan Bor­der 500 kilo­me­tres down the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to the town of Swakop­mund in a unique part of the world stretched between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic Ocean. With this vast land­scape being both treach­er­ous and untamed and yet full of immense beau­ty for a won­der of the world unlike any oth­er on the plan­et.  

So vast is the Skele­ton Coast that the full park is offi­cial­ly divid­ed into a North­ern and South­ern part, with the North­ern part which stretch­es from the beau­ti­ful Tor­ra Bay to the Namib­ia — Angolan Bor­der city of Kunene only being explorable on a tour – with this area chich undoubt­ed­ly hous­es the most scenic and pho­to­genic areas of the won­der being home to African wildlife, yet also being amongst the most treach­er­ous parts of the Skele­ton Coast  — as evi­denced from the ship­wrecks and whale bones you’ll find here.  

For those explor­ing by them­selves or on a day-trip then undoubt­ed­ly the South­ern Part of the Skele­ton Coast is the area to head to – with the South­ern Area which stretch from the Ugab Riv­er up to the North­ern Start­ing point of Tor­ra bay being freely acces­si­ble (although you’ll need a per­mit to access the coast at the entrance points of Ugab­mund and Spring­bock­wa­ter) and hous­ing eerie stretch­es of the Skele­ton Coast land­scape as well as being home to the famed wildlife of the Skele­ton Coast, Ship­wrecks and some of the most dra­mat­ic and awe-inspir­ing land­scapes on the plan­et.  

Getting There: 

Tru­ly at the edge, a trip to the Skele­ton Coast is an adren­a­line pump­ing thrill-seek­ing adven­ture in itself – with the prospect of get­ting to this remote wilder­ness a daunt­ing prospect in itself.  

First of giv­en the poten­tial treach­er­ous nature of the Skele­ton Coast and its vast size it’s essen­tial that explor­ers come up with a sol­id plan as to which part – north or south or both – that they intend to vis­it and how they intend to vis­it– and being sure, to avoid under any cir­cum­stances arriv­ing to the Skele­ton Coast by sea ! 

For those intend­ing on vis­it­ing both the North or South parts – or the dra­mat­ic and beau­ti­ful scenery of the North­ern part of the Skele­ton Coast, you’re only option to vis­it is on a tour – with tours to this area leav­ing from either the cap­i­tal of Namib­ia Wind­hoek or the Skele­ton coast last fron­tier town of swakop­mund. 

Wind­hoek — For those leav­ing on a tour from Wind­hoek — which is like­ly to be a mul­ti-day camp­ing tour – which will no doubt take you to the absolute best and most dra­mat­ic spots along the Skele­ton Coast and afford you chances to spot the big 5 and preda­tors along the coast – then your get­ting there option is incred­i­bly sim­ple – with the best and eas­i­est option being to sim­ply fly into Wind­hoek, with the inter­na­tion­al air­port being served by a range of air­lines across the world.  

Alter­na­tive­ly, trav­el­ers also have the option to take a bus or dri­ve from across Namib­ia or across south­ern Africa to Wind­hoek, with the cap­i­tal being a mod­ern place, where trav­ellers are rec­om­mend­ed to look after them­selves. Sim­i­lar­ly, for those tak­ing on tours from the Skele­ton Coast town of Swakop­mund – you’ll find head­ing to Wind­hoek as your first port of call a great option to being your jour­ney, with you then hav­ing the option to grab a bus for $10 USD or self-dri­ve from Wind­hoek to swakop­mund to reach the town and begin your tour.  

Direct to Swakop­mund (Air & Road): For those who don’t fan­cy head­ing to Wind­hoek and want a more direct way into Swakop­mund to begin your tour, then you’ll find the near­est air­port being Walvis Bay Inter­na­tion­al air­port – which lies a half hour dri­ve away from Swakop­mund — be warned though for those tak­ing this route the road between the two towns can be bumpy, taxis are at a min­i­mum and the flight costs do bor­der on the expen­sive side dur­ing the sum­mer months.  

For those who are set­ting off on an adren­a­line pump­ing thrill-seek­ing jour­ney along the Skele­ton Coast and self-dri­ving along the South­ern Sec­tion of the park – the first thing to know before decid­ing on how to get there is that the hours for entry into the park are restrict­ed to 7:30am to 3pm for entry and explor­ers must exit by 7pm – with entry and exit done through the Spring­bok­wass­er gate in the east or through the Ugab­mund Gate in the south – with it being essen­tial that trav­ellers exit by these times unless they are in pos­ses­sion of an overnight pass which allows you to stay at the Ter­rance Bay Resort.  

With this in mind, the best option for those self-dri­ving is in our view to fly into Wind­hoek air­port and hire a car. While this will see you required to do an extra spot of dri­ving – it’s a lot eas­i­er to load up with essen­tials, sup­plies and patrol cans in Wind­hoek than it is if you fly into Walvis Bay. You’ll also find the air­port the best place to arrange for and hire a car – which is best done in advance through a reser­va­tion – and we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend fork­ing out the extra mon­ey for a 4x4 to allow you to com­fort­able explore the Skele­ton Coast and reduce your chances of get­ting stuck in the poten­tial­ly treach­er­ous sand when explor­ing.  

Mak­ing sure you have insur­ance – and that your rental comes with air con­di­tion­ing, hav­ing pi picked up the Car at the air­port, the next stop is undoubt­ed­ly to head to Wind­hoek and pick up sup­plies and then take on the 220-mile dri­ve to the town of Swakop­mund or head direct­ly to the Skele­ton Coast which is a dri­ve of 300 miles direct to begin your adven­ture.  

Entrance: Hav­ing reached the Skele­ton Coast via self-dri­ve, and remem­ber­ing entry is only via the Spring­bok­wass­er gate in the east or through the Ugab­mund Gate, it’s essen­tial that you dri­ve care­ful­ly and stick to the roads on the Skele­ton Coast, bear­ing in mind that wild ani­mals roam the plains – and can hide in plain sight. Do also be sure to come with plen­ty of food, water, first aid kit and dri­ving sup­plied – includ­ing toe ropes, a tyre change, back-up fuel and basic car main­te­nance skills – with the sandy con­di­tions on the Skele­ton Coast pos­ing a huge chal­lenge to all who self-dive and trav­ellers encour­aged to com­pen­sate for these con­di­tions when cross­ing the Namib desert.  

It’s also essen­tial to know the roads you can and can’t trav­el, with a sat-nav and man­u­al map rec­om­mend­ed for all explor­ers under­tak­ing a self-dri­ve – with it being essen­tial to know that the road from Tor­ra Bay to Ter­rance Bay is not open or pass­able, mean­ing that it’s not pos­si­ble to self-dri­ve to the delta at the Uniab riv­er.  

A stun­ning won­der – the road to the Skele­ton Coast can be treach­er­ous and dan­ger­ous as too can the pass­ing and tra­vers­ing of this won­der, so whichev­er way you plan to reach this incred­i­ble and unique won­der – but espe­cial­ly for those self-dri­ving – it’s essen­tial that you come pre­pared for the sandy and tough con­di­tions, account­ing for the wildlife that roam the sands and the remote and des­o­late nature of this won­der – to ensure your expe­ri­ence and jour­ney at this haunt­ed but incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful won­der is as safe and enjoy­able as pos­si­ble.  

Best time to Visit: 

Not only unique thanks to its diverse and eeri­ly haunt­ed land­scapes, the Skele­ton Coast is unique in that it sees no season’s rains – with the weath­er at the Skele­ton Coast being pre­dictably dry and warm through­out the year, which con­tributes in no small part to not only the flour­ish­ing of the Namib desert eco-sys­tem but adds to the atmos­phere and beau­ty of this vast won­der of the world.  

Yet owing to the posi­tion of the Skele­ton Coast, on the west­ern side of Namib­ia on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean explor­ers who are cam­paign out along the coast and spend­ing mul­ti­ple days would be advised to head between the months of Octo­ber and March – as this is when you’ll find the tem­per­a­tures warm­ing slight­ly, mean­ing that the desert nights – where tem­per­a­tures can real­ly drop – will be much more man­age­able.  

Going dur­ing the peri­od between Octo­ber to March is also rec­om­mend­ed for those seek­ing wildlife expe­ri­ences both across the Skele­ton Coast and the rest of Namib­ia, with the warmer tem­per­a­ture in these months being kinder to the desert adapt­ed natives of the Skele­ton Coast – and also being the best time to spot preda­tors in the ocean and engage in a spot of deep sea fish­ing.  

So while the Skele­ton Coast is acces­si­ble and explorable all year round, we’d rec­om­mend head­ing between the months of Octo­ber – March when you will get to see this unique and diverse won­der of the world at its absolute best.  

How long to stay:

Owing to its vast size, deep haunt­ed beau­ty, inac­ces­si­bil­i­ty and the safe­ty con­sid­er­a­tions need­ed to vis­it and explorable the Skele­ton Coast – a trip to the Skele­ton Coast is undoubt­ed­ly a mul­ti-day des­ti­na­tion.  

For those self-dri­ving and who are on a strict time bud­get – our rec­om­men­da­tion for the min­i­mum time for the Skele­ton Coast would be 3 days, allow­ing one day to fly into Walvis Bay or Wind­hoek and then dri­ve to the town of Swakop­mund or an appro­pri­ate camp site close to the entrance gates, with the sec­ond day then set aside for a full day explor­ing the Skele­ton Coast and the third day allow­ing for a final vis­it and then head­ing onwards.  

Not­ing as well that those explor­ing by self-dri­ve are only allowed to vis­it between sun­rise and sun­set, our rec­om­men­da­tion for explor­ing the Skele­ton Coast is to bud­get mul­ti­ple days – at least 7 for those only doing explo­ration of the South­ern part of the Coast on a self-dri­ve – and up to 14 for those explor­ing the North­ern and South­ern side of the Skele­ton Coast.  

With the North­ern Side only acces­si­bly and explorable via tour – you’ll find a range of options and com­pa­nies offer­ing explo­ration, and our advice would be to go on a tent­ed tour – so that you can wit­ness the incred­i­ble night sky and sun­set over the desert – and these tours which depart from Swakop­mund and Wind­hoek will last any­where between 4 – 15 days – giv­ing explor­ers a range of options when it comes to how long to stay on the Skele­ton Coast – and ensur­ing that explor­ers will get the full expe­ri­ence and get to explore the absolute best of this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.   

There­fore while the Skele­ton Coast can be explored in a 3 day trip allow­ing for a 1 or 2 day dri­ve into the Park where you explor­ers can sam­ple a taste of the South­ern Part of the Coast, we’d rec­om­mend putting aside at least a week to 10 days if not longer to explore both the North and South of this unique, diverse and stun­ning part of the world.  

Top Tip:

Tru­ly unique, haunt­ing, and beau­ti­ful – the Skele­ton Coast has not earned its rep­u­ta­tion as being a sailor’s ceme­tery and one of the most haunt­ing, des­o­late and treach­er­ous places on the plan­et by chance – with the remote and in places bar­ren nature of the Skele­ton Coast neces­si­tat­ing that those who trav­el here must come ful­ly pre­pared and equipped for the dan­ger­ous that lie ahead.  

A place once described as being less prefer­able to death by Swedish Explor­er Charles Ander­s­son, a jour­ney to the Skele­ton Coast and upon its sandy grains is not for the light heart­ed – with those who self-dri­ve like­ly to face break­downs, sand blocks, swel­ter­ing con­di­tions and find them­selves far removed from oth­er human life – with only the bar­ren desert and preda­tors for com­pa­ny. Along­side this there’s also the still treach­er­ous waters of the Benguela Coast and Atlantic Waters that crash against the shore­line – with the waters still being so dan­ger­ous that many boat com­pa­nies refuse to go near the haunt­ed waters.  

Yet despite these risks, the Skele­ton Coast is ful­ly explorable – whether by self-dri­ve in the South­ern part or through a guid­ed tour in the North­ern and South­ern sec­tions, with explor­ers– who will need to get into the skele­ton coast in a 4x4 – able to step foot upon the sands of the Namib Desert, take in the vast panoram­ic vis­tas, beach­es and cost of the Skele­ton Coast and even spot the big 5 while on one of the most unique Safaris on the plan­et.  

So, to help ensure your vis­it is as enjoy­able, planned out and as safe as pos­si­ble, we’ve round­ed out our top tips for explor­ing the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Skele­ton Coast: 

Plan in advance:

Along­side being a treach­er­ous and dan­ger­ous won­der, a trip to the Skele­ton Coast requires immense plan­ning from a logis­ti­cal per­spec­tive before vis­it­ing – with one of the key things for any explor­er to know is that only 800 vis­i­tors are allowed into the park each year. This restric­tion – which helps to ensure the Skele­ton Coast main­tains its unique beaty and that the beach­es and coast­line are kept pris­tine, also means that before final­is­ing and book­ing any­thing it’s essen­tial to ensure that access to the park is still allowed.  

Giv­en also the risky nature of the road to the Skele­ton Coast – and the remote­ness of Swakop­mund, it’s also essen­tial that any trav­eller head­ing to the Skele­ton Coast comes with an exact itin­er­ary – know­ing how long they will spend on the Coast, which parts of the won­der they will vis­it and where they will stay – with this being so essen­tial as it allows for explor­ers to bud­get their sup­plies and needs before head­ing into the remote­ness of the Skele­ton Coast.  

Safety:

While the Skele­ton Coast has its well earned rep­u­ta­tion as being a treach­er­ous and poten­tial­ly dead­ly won­der of the world, the dan­gers found with­in this park can be seri­ous­ly mit­i­gat­ed if explor­ers take prop­er and appro­pri­ate mea­sures to mit­i­gate the risk.  

To do this first­ly it’s essen­tial that any­one under­tak­ing a self-dri­ve your does so as an expe­ri­enced dri­ver, who has expe­ri­ence of han­dling a 4x4 Car in a desert envi­ron­ment – with it also being rec­om­mend­ed if pos­si­ble to dri­ve in con­voys when cross­ing the Namib desert, with the use of con­voys help­ing to ensure max­i­mum safe­ty.  

Knowl­edge of basic car main­te­nance is also essen­tial, with those self-dri­ving strong­ly encour­aged to come pre­pared with basic break­down and car essen­tials, includ­ing a spare tire and the knowl­edge of how to change it, jumper cables, tow ropes and an air pump.  

For those explor­ing the Skele­ton Coast either by self-dri­ve or on a guid­ed tour into both the North­ern and South­ern sec­tions of the park, it’s essen­tial, in con­sid­er­a­tion of the envi­ron­ment of the Skele­ton Coast, that you come pre­pared for any even­tu­al­i­ties by bring­ing a first aid kit, exces­sive water sup­plies and plen­ty of food and snacks which will not only keep you going when vis­it­ing the Skele­ton Coast but, in the pos­si­ble event of a break­down help keep you alive till help arrives.  

Emergency Contacts:

As well as mak­ing sure that all the appro­pri­ate above safe­ty advice is fol­lowed, it’s also essen­tial in con­sid­er­a­tion of the desert and remote envi­ron­ment of the Skele­ton Coast that regard­less of which part of the Coast you vis­it or whether you self-dri­ve or go on a mul­ti-day tour, you make friends and fam­i­ly aware of your trav­el plans to explore the Skele­ton Coast – so they can fol­low-up in the event of no con­tact.  

We’d also strong­ly advise brin­ing with you an emer­gency satel­lite phone, not­ing that cel­lu­lar ser­vice is lim­it­ed across the Skele­ton Coast and in con­sid­er­a­tion of the need to make emer­gency phone calls in the events of break­down or inci­dents – with satel­lite phones eas­i­ly rentable from Wind­hoek and being an essen­tial item that could just save your life on the Skele­ton Coat.  

Opening Hours, Permits & Getting in: 

For those self-dri­ving and explor­ing the Skele­ton Coast by them­selves, it’s also essen­tial that you are ful­ly aware of how to get into the park – and espe­cial­ly when you must exit. For those self-dri­ving the only way into the parks is through the Spring­bok­wass­er gate to the east or the Ugab­mund gate to the South for which you will need to obtain a tran­sit per­mit which can be done at the gate itself.  

The gates them­selves are both open from 7:30am and allow­ing last entry at 3pm – with trav­ellers hav­ing to have exit­ed the park by 7pm – and we rec­om­mend you leav­ing at 5pm – unless you are in pos­ses­sion of an overnight per­mit – with the overnight per­mit which allows you to stay at the Ter­race Bay Resort again obtain­able at either entrance gate.  

These lim­its, which are intro­duced to help pre­serve the beau­ty of the Skele­ton Coast, also mean that owing to the lack of camp­sites and accom­mo­da­tion around the gates, also means that for those self-dri­ving and on a short timescale you’ll need prop­er plan­ning to ensure you get the max­i­mum time in the park and can safe­ly exit at night. To help with this – and for those fol­low­ing our rec­om­men­da­tion to stay in the town of Swakop­mund – it takes two and half hours to dri­ve from Swakop­mund to Ugab gate and 4 hours from Swakop­mund to Spring­bok­wass­er gate – mean­ing the most time effi­cient route is to head from Swakop­mund to Ugab and exit via Spring­bok­wass­er. 

Clothing:

Owing to the warm con­di­tions of the Skele­ton Coast, the fre­quent mos­qui­toes that call the area home – and of course in con­sid­er­a­tion of the cul­tur­al aspects of Namib­ian cul­ture – it’s essen­tial that you come pre­pared with the right cloth­ing for the con­di­tions of the Skele­ton Coast if you are to enjoy this won­der of the world to it’s full poten­tial.  

Not­ing the con­di­tions on the coast itself, and no trav­eller should vis­it the Skele­ton Coast with­out a good pair of sun­glass­es and a strong hat, with trav­ellers advised to pack smart­ly for warm con­di­tions – with the essen­tial for the skele­ton coast being loose fit­ting shirts of cot­ton jumpers – with the long sleeves nec­es­sary to pro­tect against mos­qui­toes and sun­burn, shorts, trousers and some stur­dy hik­ing shoes and socks.  

We’d also advise mak­ing sure you bring a wind break­er on account of the pre­vail­ing winds that vis­it the Skele­ton Coast, a warm jumper for the evenings and a pair of swim­ming shorts for any hotel you may stay at with a pool, with it being essen­tial that no swim­ming is under­tak­en at the Skele­ton Coast – and in respect of cul­tur­al val­ues that no pub­lic nudi­ty is under­tak­en at any part of the Skele­ton Coast – with aggres­sors who do risk­ing seri­ous fines and jail sen­tences as a pun­ish­ment.  

Safari and Wildlife Viewing: 

As well as being a land at the end of the world filled with tru­ly incred­i­ble vis­tas, one of the most incred­i­ble sun­sets on the plan­et – and being one of the most treach­er­ous and haunt­ed spots on the plan­et, the Skele­ton Coast is also a fan­tas­tic place to take on a safari in one of the most unique loca­tions in the plan­et, with all of the ‘big 5’ seals, spring­boks, flamin­gos and even Great White Sharks view­able along the Skele­ton Coast.  

While these ani­mals tend to lie inland from the coast and inhab­it the riv­er sys­tems of the Skele­ton Coast inland, it’s far from uncom­mon to see them ven­tur­ing inland – and so because of this it’s essen­tial that explor­ers – and par­tic­u­lar­ly those self-dri­ving exer­cise cau­tion when trav­el­ling across the Skele­ton Coast.  

These pre­cau­tions include: 

- Ensur­ing that you per­form nec­es­sary checks when exit­ing your vehi­cle along the skele­ton coast – and not get­ting out to inter­act with any ani­mals that you may come across or that may approach you.  

- Lock­ing essen­tials in the car at all times – and espe­cial­ly food, so as not to tempt the ani­mals to approach.  

- Avoid­ing going into the waters off the coast of the Skele­ton Coast – with these waters being both treach­er­ous and filled with the Apex preda­tor of the Great White Shark.  

- Ensure you come pre­pared with appro­pri­ate med­ical insur­ance, a first aid kit and a satel­lite phone in the event of any inci­dents.  

- Do not trav­el into the Skele­ton Coast Nation­al Park after dark – as this is when the Ani­mals are at their most active and the dark­en con­di­tions make the risk of inci­dent much high­er.  

Cost:  

A tru­ly remote des­ti­na­tion – get­ting to the end of the world does come at a cost regard­less of whether explor­ers choose to explore only the South­ern part of the coast or both the North­ern and South­ern parts of the Skele­ton Coast.  

First­ly get­ting to Wind­hoek – which will be the first port of call for most trav­ellers and the cost of flights will depend on your point or ori­gin, but for those trav­el­ling from either North or South Amer­i­ca or the far parts of Asia or Aus­trala­sia, you’ll need to bud­get around $3,000 Usd for return flights, with the cost of flights reduc­ing the clos­er you get to Namib­ia and run­ning into dou­ble fig­ures from across Africa.  

Hav­ing got your­self to Wind­hoek, for those leav­ing on tours from the cap­i­tal you can safe­ly find our way to accom­mo­da­tion, but for those self-dri­ving or leav­ing on tours from Swakop­mund you’ll have to get your­self to this skele­ton coast town. To do this you have three options – the first and most direct being to fly into Walvis Bay, which will set you back $400, but remains the most direct and com­fort­able, the sec­ond being to take the bus which will cost you $18 Usd – and will no doubt be an expe­ri­ence but can be a tad unre­li­able and the third being to direct­ly dri­ve there – which will see you need to hire a car from  Wind­hoek air­port.

For those hir­ing a car, the dri­ve to Swakop­mund and sub­se­quent­ly onto the gates of Spring­bok­wass­er or Ugab­mund must be fac­tored into the cost, and we’d rec­om­mend get­ting a 4 x 4 when you hire a car, with plen­ty of insur­ance and car essen­tials – with the aver­age cost of hir­ing such a car com­ing out to around $50 Usd a day – mean­ing that for those on a bud­get self dri­ving is an incred­i­bly afford­able option to explore the Skele­ton Coast.  

Those Self-dri­ving will also need to con­sid­er the cost of the per­mits get­ting into the park, with the pass, which can only be pur­chased at the tourism office of the Skele­ton Coast or at gates them­selves cost­ing $50Usd per per­son and $10 Usd per Car for each day entry – or you can opt for the camp­ing per­mit at a sim­i­lar price which allows you to stay at the des­ig­nat­ed gov­ern­ment camp­ing spot in the nation­al park – be pre­pared to pay between $10 — $50 Usd a night for camp­ing, as prices vary based on the sea­son – or alter­na­tive­ly you can opt for a hotel out­side the park which will set you back between $50-$150 Usd a night. 

For those who are leav­ing from either Wind­hoek or Swakop­mund to explore the coast and are jump­ing on a tour, tours them­selves last for a min­i­mum of 4 days and range in length between 4, 7, 10 and 15 days – with the price of your tour of course affect­ed by it’s length – for those on four day tours you can expect prices to start from $600 Usd and rise to as much as $11,000 depend­ing on it’s length.  

While this may be a lit­tle steep – it is a chance to explore this incred­i­ble won­der of the world in a tent­ed tour – giv­ing you not only the best of the Skele­ton Coast, includ­ing the incred­i­ble ship­wrecks against a vast and stun­ning vista, see the Cape Cross Seal reserve and search for the big 5, take in incred­i­ble desert plains and beach­es and wit­ness one of the world’s most incred­i­ble sun­sets along the incom­pa­ra­ble and sim­ply beau­ti­ful Skele­ton Coast.  

Bud­get­ing as well at least $50Usd for snacks, water and a first aid kit – and anoth­er $100Usd for invest­ing in appro­pri­ate cloth­ing and gear before head­ing to the Skele­ton Coast – and our rec­om­men­da­tion would be to bud­get between $2650 to $6,000 Usd to explore the incred­i­ble and unique won­der of the world that is the Skele­ton Coast.  

Fun Fact: 

As well as being and offer­ing unique land­scapes like no oth­ers, the Skele­ton Coast is blessed with many appro­pri­ate nick­names – being the worlds largest ship ceme­tery, the end of the world and a land where death is more prefer­able than stay­ing. How­ev­er, the lat­ter may be a lit­tle harsh – and cer­tain­ly for the Him­ba peo­ple who live across the Kunene region which bor­ders the Skele­ton Coast at the top of the Ango­la and Namib­ia bor­der. 

A semi-nomadic tribe the Him­ba peo­ple have man­aged to find a way to thrive in the harsh and treach­er­ous lands of the Skele­ton Coast – most­ly through farm­ing and rear­ing cat­tle – with these unique tribe peo­ple, who are known to live in mud huts, eas­i­ly recog­nised through by their facial of a red paste and thick braids – which cer­tain­ly makes them stand out.  

While some Him­ba peo­ple have begun to adopt mod­ern soci­ety – and have opt­ed to send their chil­dren to school, these fas­ci­nat­ing tribes can be found on the Skele­ton Coast, just be sure to be respect­ful should you run into one in any of the Skele­ton Coast Towns – and in return you can expect a friend­ly con­ver­sa­tion over a good drink.  

Top Sights & Best photo spots: 

Oth­er world­ly, haunt­ing and tru­ly dra­mat­ic – the scenic pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties at the Skele­ton Coast are tru­ly unique, with the land that God cre­at­ed in anger being home to some of the most intim­i­dat­ing, emo­tive and for­mi­da­ble land­scapes, beach­es, dunes and penin­su­las, which com­bine with the des­o­late and untouched wilder­ness to give explor­ers to chance the cap­ture the true remote­ness, treach­er­ous­ness and beau­ty of the Skele­ton Coast.  

Tru­ly off the beat­en coast, the rust­ing ship­wrecks and whale bones – which stand as incred­i­ble emo­tive pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties against the back­drop of the des­o­late Namib desert and tow­er­ing Sand Dunes – give a chance to cap­ture the snap a pho­to which under­lines why and how the Skele­ton Coast earned its name.  

Yet there’s also a chance to cap­ture true beau­ty along the Skele­ton Coast, not just in the diverse and desert scenery but also in the wildlife that fre­quents and patrols the sands that roll to meet the water of the Benguela Coast, with the Skele­ton Coast being one of the most unique and beau­ti­ful places on the plan­et to spot ‘Africa’s big five’ as well as spot and pho­to­graph some of the world’s apex preda­tors.  

Com­bin­ing these incred­i­ble won­ders and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties with one of the most incred­i­ble and pow­er­ful sun­sets on the plan­et, and along­side being one of the most dra­mat­ic and iso­lat­ed won­ders on the plan­et, the Skele­ton Coast is tru­ly a pho­tog­ra­pher’s dream. Yet giv­en the vast size, dan­gers and in con­sid­er­a­tion of the remote­ness and true wilder­ness of the Skele­ton Coast, know­ing where to head to — to grab the icon­ic shots that cap­ture the beau­ty of the Skele­ton Coast can be a chal­lenge, so to make things as easy as pos­si­ble we’ve round­ed out our top Skele­ton Coast pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties to help ensure you cap­ture the absolute best of this stun­ning won­der of the world: 

Shipwreck Photos: 

Defin­ing the Skele­ton Coast, the ill-fat­ed ship­wrecks and Whale bones that dot the Namib desert along the Skele­ton Coast are a true mar­vel and undoubt­ed­ly one of the must snap pho­tographs along the increi­d­ble vista of the Skele­ton Coast. While there’s many unique remains of those that have fall­en on the Skele­ton Coast along the 500-kilo­me­tre stretch of the Namib desert – for the best pho­tos we’re rec­om­mend head­ing for the ship­wrecks of the Dunedin Star, the Eduard Bohlen or the Zelia – all three of whom are in the best con­di­tion and can pro­vide tru­ly incred­i­ble pho­tos when set against the vast­ness of the Skele­ton Coast.  

For tru­ly incred­i­ble pho­tos – that allow you to cap­ture the eeri­ness and tru­ly haunt­ing nature of the Skele­ton Coast – be sure to head to the ship­wrecks in peri­ods of dense fog to cap­ture dra­mat­ic pho­tos of the wrecks. Cre­at­ed as a result of the Benguela coast mix­ing with the Namib desert and air the dense fog not only adds to the mys­te­ri­ous atmos­phere of the Skele­ton Coast but has the abil­i­ty to cre­ate a tru­ly dra­mat­ic land­scape for incred­i­ble pho­tos of the ship­wrecks along the coast.  

Skeleton Coast Landscapes: 

Tru­ly dra­mat­ic and a pho­tog­ra­pher’s dream, the vast strik­ing land­scape of the Skele­ton Coast is both oth­er world­ly and haunt­ing and is chief amongst the rea­sons for pho­tog­ra­phers to vis­it this incred­i­ble won­der of the world. A panoram­ic nat­ur­al vista unlike any oth­er on the plan­et, the Skele­ton Coast Land­scape first com­pris­es the vast Namib desert – one of the most ancient deserts in the world – and you can grab incred­i­ble pho­tos of this unique and at times des­o­late desert land­scape from pret­ty much any­where along the coast – but for extra spe­cial pho­tos we’d advise snap­ping panoram­ic pho­tos from either atop the dunes look­ing down or from the area.  

Pho­tographs of the Namib desert and the Skele­ton Coast as a whole are no doubt enhanced by the empti­ness of the land­scape before you, with so much of the stun­ning beau­ty you can cap­ture owed to the lack of devel­op­ment and human infra­struc­ture on the desert plains. It is this lack of devel­op­ment that also helps the Skele­ton Coast Land­scape to main­tain its unique end of the world vista – and no more fit­ting and pho­to­genic is this vista in the tow­er­ing and pho­to­genic Sand Dunes, which at times can rise more than 100 feet in length. 

Tru­ly impos­ing and adding to the treach­er­ous atmos­phere on the coast, these Sand dunes are typ­i­cal­ly cres­cent-shaped and the moun­tains dunes which blend seam­less­ly into the Namib desert make for an incred­i­ble shot – par­tic­u­lar­ly along the coast, where you cna feel and cap­ture the full intim­i­dat­ing nature of the desert of the Skele­ton Coast for an absolute­ly stun­ning pho­to.  

Skeleton Coast Wildlife & Cape Cross Reserve: 

One of the most unique and sur­pris­ing ele­ments about the Skele­ton Coast is that it is home to desert adapt­ed wildlife – includ­ing the African big five, the apex preda­tor of the Great White Shark, thou­sands of seals, herds of spring­boks, flocks of flamin­gos and birds and of course jack­als and hye­nas who feast on those unfor­tu­nate to find them­selves ship­wrecked on Skele­ton Coast. A true tes­ta­ment to the adapt­abil­i­ty of wildlife, the Ele­phants, Lions and Rhi­nos on the Skele­ton Coast are par­tic­u­lar adapt­ed and fre­quent on the coast – mean­ing for those keen on wildlife pho­tog­ra­phy the Skele­ton Coast not only pro­vides a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to snap these rare and endan­gered ani­mals but also do so against a dra­mat­ic and diverse land­scape for increi­d­ble shots.  

Giv­en the vast size of the Skele­ton Coast it can be a chal­lenged to snap all of the unique wildlife, par­tic­u­lar­ly as some are so well adapt­ed and cam­ou­flaged against the Namib desert, so for the best chance of snap­ping and sight­ing the most diverse wildlife, we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the Cape cross Seal reserve – some 30 miles north of Hen­ties Bay – where you’ll find thou­sands of pho­to­genic seals. A true sight by them­selves, the seals are also stuck in the mid­dle of the food chain – being hunt­ed by Lions, Great Whites and Jack­als a like – whilst also cruis­ing through the waters of the Benguela Coast on the hunt – mean­ing that for those inter­est­ed in snap­ping pho­tos of the Skele­ton Coasts ani­mals in full flow and at their rawest – this is the place to head to for incred­i­ble live shots of the desert adapt­ed wildlife of the Skele­ton Coast.  

Henties Bay:

Our pick for one of the safest and intrigu­ing bays along the Skele­ton Coast, the Heneties Bay is the only real town along the Skele­ton Coast – and it makes for an absolute­ly fas­ci­nat­ing pho­to spot, giv­en the remote­ness of this quaint town, with the clus­ter of small fish­ing huts stand­ing stark against both the bay and the coast to cre­ate a won­der­ful pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

One of the few places in the Skele­ton Coast where tra­di­tion­al pos­ing pho­tos are tak­en in com­plete safe­ty, the tourist asso­ci­a­tion of Hen­ties has also helped on the pho­tog­ra­phy front 0 – with many of the huts and town sites being some­what colour­ful­ly named. Found an hour or so dri­ve from Swakop­mund – the bay of Hen­ties is a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into life on the Skele­ton Coast and a great place to cap­ture sen­sa­tion­al and unique pho­tos of life in one of the most chal­leng­ing and inhos­pitable places on the plan­et.  

Walvis Bay Lagoon: 

The flamin­go cap­i­tal of the Skele­ton Coast, the bright pink lagoon of Walvis Bay is as pho­to­genic as they come – with the unique mix of wildlife and bright coloured waters sit­ting almost exact­ly halfway between the treach­er­ous waters of the Benguela Coast and the tow­er­ing sand dunes to give not only an incred­i­ble pho­to of a pink lagoon – but if snapped as a panoram­ic pho­to a tru­ly immense pho­to of the diverse and stun­ning land­scapes of the Skele­ton Coast.  

Often vis­it­ed as the final high­light of a trip along the skele­ton coast, the Walvis Lagoon is also incred­i­bly unique and spe­cial at sun­set – where you’ll see the descend­ing sun light up the waters of the Bay enrich­ing the pink colours into a deep­er rogue and shin­ing under the African Sun – for an absolute­ly stun­ning pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

From the Air:

The only true way to appre­ci­ate and pho­to­graph the vast­ness, remote­ness and yet rugged beau­ty of the Skele­ton coast, soar­ing over this vast ship­wreck tomb, whilst simul­ta­ne­ous­ly spot­ting some of Africa’s most pre­cious and remark­able wildlife is one of the most enthralling expe­ri­ences not just at this won­der but on the plan­et – with the increi­d­ble land­scape pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties on offer from the air being tru­ly unique and allow­ing you to cap­ture the absolute best of the Skele­ton Coast. 

A lit­tle more expen­sive- but absolute­ly worth it – in com­par­i­son to oth­er tours along the Skele­ton Coast, for extra spe­cial pho­tos we’d encour­age you to try and get a flight at sun­rise – where you’ll see the ris­ing sun reflect over the Benguela Coast and Atlantic Ocean – giv­ing you not only the best chance to spot both the Apex preda­tors of the Ocean and the ship­wrecks safe­ly from above, but allow­ing the diverse and kalei­do­scop­ic beach­es, sand dunes and Namib desert to come to life – giv­ing you tru­ly increi­d­ble panoram­ic and land­scape pho­tos of the vast wilder­ness and stun­ning beau­ty of the Skele­ton Coast.  

Sunset on the Skeleton Coast: 

Final­ly, the vast won­ders of the Skele­ton Coast – includ­ing the rolling sands of the Namib desert, the plen­ti­ful lagoons, the tow­er­ing sand dunes and the rust­ing ship­wrecks and whale bones – come togeth­er to cre­ate a desert mirage and par­adise that pro­vides the per­fect back­drop for a tru­ly stun­ning pho­to as the bright African descend­ing sun – which shines and reflects per­fect­ly against the swirling waters of the Benguela Coast – cre­ates a dra­mat­ic pho­to of the whole of the high­lights of the Skele­ton Coast lit up in bright shades of yel­low and orange for what is undoubt­ed­ly one of the great­est pho­tos across this stun­ning won­der.  

A tru­ly great way to con­clude a day or your adven­ture on the Skele­ton Coast, cap­tur­ing the Skele­ton Coast as it comes to life at sun­set – and with the land­scape embody­ing both the tragedies, beau­ty and diver­si­ty of the end of the world is tru­ly spe­cial — there’s no doubt that cap­tur­ing a shot of the Skele­ton Coast under a deep African sun­set will not only leave pho­tog­ra­phers with an incred­i­ble and tru­ly unique pho­to­graph, but help tru­ly under­line why this unique and dra­mat­ic land­scape is an undoubt­ed won­der of the world.