Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is about as far off the beaten track as it’s possible to get. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the region extends southwards from the Angolan border to just north of the coastal town of Swakopmund — a distance of some 300 miles/500 kilometers.

The Land God Made in Anger

Christened by the San Bushmen as “The Land God Made in Anger”, the Skeleton Coast is a formidable landscape of soaring, dun-colored dunes. At its western edge the dune sea plunges into the Atlantic, which casts itself violently upon the abandoned shore. The Benguela Current keeps the ocean icy and the sudden meeting of cold water and hot desert often causes the coastline to disappear beneath a pall of dense fog. These treacherous conditions have claimed many passing ships and as such the Skeleton Coast is littered with the wrecks of more than 1,000 different vessels. It is from the bleached bones of long dead southern right whales that it gets its name, however.

A Remote Tourist Destination

The Skeleton Coast is both bleak and inaccessible and yet it continues to fascinate foreign visitors. As one of Africa’s great untouched wildernesses, it offers travelers the chance to experience nature in all its unspoiled grandeur. The coastline is divided into two sections — the southerly National West Coast Tourist Recreation Area and the northerly Skeleton Coast National Park. The former is accessed with relative ease, although a permit is required. The wildest areas are in the northern section, however, and it's kept pristine by a restriction that allows only 800 visitors a year. Access is by fly-in safari only, and consequently visits to the Skeleton Coast National Park are both exclusive and expensive.

For the true adventurer, however, the wilderness that awaits is well worth the effort of getting there.