Namibia Pictures
Skeleton Coast

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The far south of the Skeleton Coast at Cape Cross seal colony, August 2005
Note the jackal hunting for baby seals. Click for more seal colony pictures.

At the south end of the Skeleton Coast and a couple of hours north of Swakopmund is the Cape Cross seal colony, a seething, smelly, screeching, barking, squabbling mass of between 100,000 and 200,000 seals. At a distance looking like a writhing mass of giant slugs and up close smelling like last week's dog vomit, the seals are, nevertheless socially fascinating and worth a trip if you like to see wildlife up close and personal.

The combination of cold Atlantic waters and hot Namib Desert make heavy sea mist stretching up to a few kilometres inland in this area a common event, especially mornings. The Skeleton Coast generally does not offer a lot of sights apart from this seal colony - it's just incredibly bleak and sandy, with the occasional salt road to break the monotony.

There is a costly, pleasant hotel very near the colony but a day trip from Swakopmund is not too strenuous.

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