Category Archives: Africa 2016

Day 10 – Spitzkoppe

23 Sep

Look really closely in the lower left hand corner and you’ll see my truck parked in tonight’s simply incredible camping spot under the rocky outcrops of Spitzkoppe that rise up out of the desert plains.

Day 10 – Skeleton Coast

22 Sep

Google Skeleton Coast shipwrecks and look at some of the photos. You’ll quickly understand why this area was one of the main inspirations for this trip.

Sadly, the most impressive wrecks are in private concession areas that require a lot of time and money to get to. In the short stretch of coastline I can get to, there are a handful of wrecks but most of the older ones have weathered to a hunk of rusty metal that a couple of strong men could probably lift.

But I do get to see one more modern wreck, from the 1980s. It doesn’t have the dramatic impact of those photos I saw on line, and the tide is in so it also doesn’t have the same striking juxtaposition of shipwreck in the sand that the iconic images have, but it completes the goal of seeing a Skeleton Coast shipwreck.

Driving the salt roads and sand trails of this relatively accessible part of the coast makes me even more in awe of the people who survived wrecks on the really remote parts further north, and the people who came to their rescue on horse and camel or primitive truck, requiring days of arduous overland travel in an era before 4 wheel drive trucks, roads, GPS navigation, aircraft, or all the other things that mean tourists can now visit.