These dramatic coastal areas of Namibia are situated in warm hostile environments, wild and untamed the Skeleton Coast’s dramatic scenery is like nowhere else and the colourful and charming Swakopmund offers plenty to see and do.
Swakopmund sits sandwiched between the cool Atlantic and the inhospitable Namib desert, an incredible place to establish a city. An interesting and nature filled beach resort that was established as a German colony as an important harbour. The architecture is distinctive, with colourful houses now slightly faded lining the streets offering a unique charm, sitting somewhere between both European and African influences. Learn more about the history of Swakopmund at the Swakopmund Museum, explore the fauna at the National Marine Aquarium and hike the dunes nearby, or explore by quad bike.
The Skeleton Coast is within reach from Swakopmund and is a graveyard for ships, with over 1,000 wrecks littered across the coastline, but it’s not these nautical remnants from which the Skeleton Coast’s name is derived but the whale skeleton’s littering the coast. The eerie Skeleton Coast is a wild, desolate landscape with a coastline spanning 310 km. The inhospitable National Park does have some ‘inhabitants’ with many visitors enjoying the chance to meet the large Cape fur seal colony at Cape Cross.
