Skeleton coast
As Skeleton Coast ( english Skeleton Coast ), the northern part of the coast of Namibia and its hinterland referred, that of Swakopmund to the Kunene , the border river to the north situated Angola enough. The Skeleton Coast is part of the Namib .
geology
Geologically , a large part of the Skeleton Coast, with an age of up to 1.5 billion years, is one of the oldest landscape formations on earth. Fog, heavy surf and unpredictable strong currents - due to the Benguela Current flowing northwards on the coast - have always made the coast dangerous for seafaring .
History and shipwrecks
Hundreds of shipwrecks near the shore and on the beach bear witness to this along the coast . The name common today "Skeleton Coast" was invented by the writer John Henry Marsh; he used it as the title of his 1944 book about the MV Dunedin Star, which sank off the coast in 1941. Bushmen had previously called it "the land that God created in anger" and Portuguese seafarers as the "gate of hell".
The shipwrecked , who were still able to save themselves from the wrecks that had been shattered or stranded on the coast, had no chance of survival in the uninhabited, extremely dry coastal desert and died of thirst . The name therefore refers both to the ship's “skeletons”, the real skeletons of the stranded, but also to the numerous skeletons of whales washed ashore . The cold Benguela current coming from Antarctica is also the cause of the coastal desert that begins right on the beach.
The Skeleton Coast is a national park accessible to the general public ( Dorob National Park ) in the southern part up to Torra Bay and is especially popular with anglers because of its abundance of fish. Their onslaught has created several fishing camps. One of these camps has since developed into a real city: Henties Bay . The northern part is part of the Namib Skeleton Coast National Park .
literature
- Amy Schoeman: Skeleton Coast. Venture Publications, Windhoek 2011, ISBN 978-1-86919-424-6 .
