Skeleton Coast

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the novel, see
Skeleton Coast (novel). For the film, see Skeleton Coast (film). For the album, see The Lawrence Arms
.
Skeleton Coast
Coast
Kunene River, Swakop River
EtymologyNamed for whale and seal bones that used to litter the coast, partly due to whaling, and for the thousands of shipwrecks
Dimensions
 • Length310 miles (500 km)

The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the

Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San people (formerly known as Bushmen), of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese
sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

On the coast, the

Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs (called cassimbo by the Angolans) for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, rainfall rarely exceeds 10 millimetres (0.39 in) annually, and the climate is highly inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf
on the beaches. In the days before engine-powered ships and boats, it was possible to get ashore through the surf, but impossible to launch from the shore. The only way out was by going through a marsh hundreds of kilometres long and only accessible via a hot and arid desert.

The coast is largely made up of soft sand occasionally interrupted by rocky outcrops. The southern section consists of

sand dunes
.

Skeleton Bay is known as a great location for surfing. The Salty Jackal, a backpackers lodge located in Swakopmund, and Surf Guide Namibia, a local tour guide and surf school are currently the only groups that run guided surf trips along the Skeleton Coast.[1]

Etymology

Zelia India shipwreck, south of Henties Bay, November 2014

The area's name derives from the whale and seal bones that once littered the shore, partly due to the

Dunedin Star
and Tong Taw.

The name "Skeleton Coast" was coined by John Henry Marsh as the title for the book he wrote chronicling the shipwreck of the Dunedin Star. Since the book was first published in 1944, it has become so well known that the coast is now generally referred to as "Skeleton Coast" and is named so on most maps today. See § In popular culture, below.

History

Further information: List of shipwrecks of Africa § Namibia
One of many rusting ship hulls along the Skeleton Coast (Dunedin Star)

One of the oldest shipwrecks in the Skeleton Coast region is that of the Bom Jesus, near the town of Oranjemund. It ran aground during the 1530s and is known to be one of the oldest discovered shipwrecks of the Iberian Atlantic tradition in Sub-Saharan Africa.[3] On Thursday, 22 March 2018, a Japanese registered fishing vessel, MVF Fukuseki Maru, got into trouble and ran aground near Durissa Bay, south of the Ugab River mouth, lying 2 km from the Skeleton Coast beach in the ocean. All 24 foreign crew members were rescued by Namibian authorities.[4]

Past human occupation by

mussels
found along parts of the Skeleton Coast.

In 1942 the British refrigerated cargo liner Dunedin Star ran aground. All her 106 passengers and crew were eventually rescued, but at the cost of a tug, an SAAF aircraft and the lives of two rescuers. The account is recorded in a book Skeleton Coast by John Henry Marsh.


Wildlife

Seals on Skeleton Coast

Namibia has declared the 16,000 square kilometres (6,200 sq mi)

wilderness area. Notable features are the clay castles of the Hoarusib River, the Agate Mountain salt pans and the large seal colony at Cape Fria. The remainder of the coast is the National West Coast Recreation Area. The national park would be part of the proposed Iona – Skeleton Coast Transfrontier Conservation Area
.

The coast has been the subject of a number of wildlife

nomadism
.

The riverbeds further inland are home to

Serious Desert
was filmed in the region.

In popular culture

  • Skeleton Coast is a novel by Clive Cussler that uses the shifting sands of the coastline as a prominent plot device in the fourth entry in the Oregon Files
    .
  • The plot of the 1968 fiction film A Twist of Sand involves diamonds hidden in a shipwreck buried in the sand dunes of the Skeleton Coast.
  • Much of season 1, episode 7 of Amazon's The Grand Tour was filmed on the Skeleton Coast.
  • The first episode of Wonders of the Universe featured the Skeleton Coast, and the shipwrecks there were utilized as part of an analogy by Brian Cox to demonstrate the effects of time.
  • For the American TV series Fallout, scenes depicting the post-apocalyptic Wasteland were filmed on the Skeleton Coast.[7]
  • Drummer Billy Cobham has written an album inspired by his visit to the area, called Tales from the Skeleton Coast.
  • Punk rock band The Lawrence Arms released their seventh LP, Skeleton Coast, named in reference to the region.
Gallery

References

  1. ^ "Skeleton Bay – The Miracle Mile?". carvemag.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22.
  2. ^ "The Shipwrecks of Skeleton Coast, Namibia". www.amusingplanet.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24.
  3. S2CID 162225466
    .
  4. ^ "Japanese fishing vessel stuck near Walvis Bay | Namibia Economist". Archived from the original on 2021-11-05.
  5. ^ "Survivors of the Skeleton Coast". IMDb.
  6. S2CID 161362350
    .
  7. ^ Bankhurst, Adam (December 4, 2023). "The Big Fallout TV Show Interview With Jonathan Nolan, Walton Goggins, and More". IGN. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024.
  8. ^ "Bantustan | Definition, History, Map, & Facts | Britannica".

External links

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