July 24th, 2016

Day 115: The Skeleton Coast

We had a 6-hour drive ahead of us, so after an early breakfast we said farewell to Swakopmund and headed north along the “Skeleton Coast”. Most tourist circuits only drive halfway up the coast before turning east toward Etosha National Park, but we were going all the way to the of the line to Terrace Bay.

We had a long way to go, so we set-up some driving music. Our rental CRV had an old-school CD player / radio unit with a USB input, so we copied all of our music to a thumb drive. The car’s media player could only process about 256 songs at a time, and would only play them alphabetical order, but anything was better than Lindsay’s singing!

 

Driving up the Skeleton Coast – a graveyard for hundreds of shipwrecks and lost souls! The Zeila (sunk in 2008) was our first wreck.

 

The road was deserted – we probably passed a total of five cars throughout the 365KM drive. It’s so desolate that hawkers don’t even bother to stay with their souvenir stands – they use an “honesty can” to collect fees for rock crystals, skulls and other curios! Another example of how Namibia is so different from their neighbor – no way a jar of money would be safe on the side of the road in South Africa!

A long stretch of road on the Skeleton Coast

Entry Gate to the Skeleton Coast National Park – gates close sharply at 3PM, but we were way ahead of schedule

 

Our second wreck along the Skeleton Coast

 

Igor loves all the dead wood on the beach! If he were a puppy, he’d carry each piece home and build a pile in the backyard. Even as a human, he felt the need to roll around in the sand.

 

Our third wreck – the “Oil Rig”

 

This oil rig couldn’t have been that old – possibly installed in the 1970s? – yet the coastline changes so rapidly along the Skeleton Coast, it was clearly underwater, then stranded on dry land within a few years!

 

A decaying oil rig along the Skeleton Coast – no stopping Nature

 

Hours of driving empty desert roads

 

Since there is no radio reception on the Skeleton Coast, we were listening to all our MP3s via USB stick. When some odd techno came on, Igor felt the need to break out the bandana! Lindsay’s husband is quickly becoming a backpacker douchbag…but she loves him anyways

After several hours of flat gravel, large sand dunes show un the horizon!

 

The beautiful, and varying landscape of the Skeleton Coast

A tiny patch of water in the desert creates an oasis of seagrass

 

Flamingos feeding along the coast

When we finally reached Terrace Bay and checked-in to the reception, we discovered that we were the *only* tourists in the park that day. The place was incredibly remote – just a handful of buildings in the middle of nowhere. The bar (which was in the same building as the park office) had about a dozen fishermen playing pool and drinking beers in the middle the day – with no tourists in house, there must not be much to do!

 

End of the line! We finally reach Terrace Bay – a small fishing settlement with a few accommodations un by the Namibian Wildlife Resorts (National Park Service)

 

Talk about tiny! The “gas station” is literally to pumps (one diesel, one unleaded) locked inside a shack. The “police station” is an old trailer home!

 

NWR cabins – basic, but very comfortable. We had one of the best night’s sleep in Terrace Bay! It was wicked cold and the wind was howling outside, but we were armed with down comforters and heavy spare blankets. Snug as a bug in a rug!

Terrace Bay is famous for its off-shore fishing (apparently even the president of Namibia frequently takes vacations to Terrace Bay), so Igor wanted to give it a try! When we checked-in, we asked the park manager if someone ran fishing tours. She walked into the bar (which was right next door to the park reception) and asked around, and found a local who would be willing to take us out, provide bait, and let Igor use his rod for N$450 (about USD $35). After grabbing his gear, our guide, Daniel, hopped into our car and led us to a few of his favorite sites before we found a promising stretch of beach. It took a bit of persistence, but by the end of the day, Igor caught two Blacktails! Since we were only in Terrace Bay for one night, we only kept one and gave the second to Daniel.

 

Daniel – a local fisherman & handyman – took us out to the shore and gave Igor an introductory lesson in angling. He uses chuncks of frozen mussels tied to the hook as bait.

 

Shore-fishing on the Skeleton Coast

 

Igor getting a lesson in angling in Namibia

 

After about an hour we had our first catch! A catfish?! Boo – no one wants to eat that, so we threw it back.

 

The second catch is a keeper! Igor nabs a Blacktail! For his next fish, he baits the hook himself

 

Minutes later, Igor catches a second Blacktail!

 

The sun was starting to set after the second fish – perfect timing as two fish is the limit per day, so we headed back to “town” with our catch

Daniel told us that the park chef would cook our fish for us for N $30, so after dropping him off at his house, we headed over to the park restaurant. Apparently our fish was on the small side, so the chef refused payment, and said he would serve it as our appetizer. As long as the fish wasn’t going to waste, we were happy! After a quick shower, we drove about 100 meters from our door to the restaurant stairs (It was really cold out!), where we were *literally* the only guests in the place. Can’t imagine why this place was deserted – the food was fantastic – we really didn’t expect a park restaurant in the middle of nowhere to be so good! Terrace Bay might not be for everyone, but for us it was an underrated gem.

 

Tourist graffiti covered every inch of the wall in the Terrace Bay Restaurant

 

Igor’s Blacktail was filleted and cooked for our dinner

 

The Blacktail was delicious!