Skeleton Coast

After checking in with the tourist office in Henties Bay we started further up the coast towards a 4WD trail into the desert.  We stopped at Cape Cross which is home to one of the largest breeding colonies of fur seal in the world.  There must have been tens of thousands of seals there, some surfing in the waves and diving for fish, others basking in the sun nursing their pups.  One rather large pup I saw had a loop of packing tape tight around its middle pinning the tops of its flippers.  The tape was already hindering the pup's on shore movements and I hope it breaks soon or the pup could have trouble getting food when its weaned in the next month or so.

Just as we were leaving the seal colony, Duncan complained of a migraine so I took over the driving.

Messum Crater

Nothing for miles except another photographer

After a couple of hours slow driving across the alternately rocky and sandy desert (I'm glad I didnt manage to get stuck or puncture a tyre) we came to the Messum Crater which is 20km across.

We camped on a hill, in the middle of the desert, miles away from anywhere, but close by the ancient remains of a Damara settlement.  The 4WD booklet description of the point suggested there were rock paintings deep under the rocky overhang.  We did some climbing and exploring but didnt see any.

It is interesting the plants you find growing in the desert.  Messum Crater is home to hundreds of Weltwitschia Mirabilis this weird plant with two leaves that split into curling ribbons of green like flax.  They are endemic to the Namib desert and can live for over 1000 years absorbing moisture from the fog that rolls up to 70km in from the coast. 

The Weltwitschia Mirabilis

In the dry Messum riverbed a desert pumpkin grows, providing food for Springbok and Oryx.

Spot the pumpkins

Ugab River Camp

We wove between mountains of copper schist, jagged shards pointing skywards and stayed the night at the remote Save the Rhino Trust Base Camp at Ugab river where signs were erected advising us to beware of elephant and lion.  I'm glad we have a tent on the roof.

Sculptures at Save The Rhino Trust base camp

The Trust was founded to counter rhino poachers, but now that poaching has been eliminated they focus on conservation and monitoring of Black Rhino, Lion and the unusual desert adapted Elephant.  Like most of the rivers in the north west of Namibia, the Ugab is an ephemeral river which means that they seldom run.  Namibia's ephemeral rivers only have water flow in the summer wet season after heavy rains upstream and the flow doesnt often last longer than a week.

We took a short drive up Desolation Canyon (which is another dry riverbed 4WD track) which gave the Landy a good run for her money with sharp rocks and the need to drive upwards over dry rapids.

Mile 108

River beds make great 4WD tracks as long as it doesn't rain...

Today we drove back towards the coast on a 4WD trail that took us mostly through dry river beds.  The diversity in the desert continues to amaze me.  We saw some incredible rock formations on the river banks and finally came back to flat endless desert of small white stones and grey sand.  The campsite is cold, foggy and very windy so we put up the new awning panels which provided enough shelter to keep a flame on the gas stove at least.  A big eyed mouse keeps poking its head inside, we're not sure what it wants - shelter from the wind outside maybe?

Khorixas

Today we drove from the Ugab to the Springbokwasser gate of Skeleton Coast Park and saw the remains of some shipwrecks, a rusting old oil rig, more incredible sand dunes, Springbok, Hartmanns Mountain Zebra and some Oryx stuck in the narrow gap between the two fences that make up The Red Line - a veterinary border between northern and southern Namibia that separates the commercial stock grazing area from the pastoral stock of the north.  What we didnt see, but hoped to, was the elusive desert elephant.

Skeletal remains