Walvis Bay
| Walvis Bay Walvis Bay |
||
|---|---|---|
 Satellite image of Walvis Bay (left) with Pelican Point (center) |
||
| Waters | Atlantic Ocean | |
| Land mass | Africa | |
| Geographical location | 22 ° 50 '20 " S , 14 ° 29' 53" E | |
|
||
| Islands |
Bird Island (artificial) Pelican Point (peninsula) |
|
| Tributaries | Kuiseb | |
.jpg)
The Walvis Bay , including Afrikaans Walvisbaai , partly Walvisbay written, is a bay on the Atlantic Ocean on the central coast of Namibia . At its southeast end is the historically equally named port town of Walvis Bay , whose district of Langstrand with its northernmost foothills closes the bay in the northeast. In the south and southwest, the Pelican Point peninsula forms the natural boundary of the bay.
Between 1482 and 1489, the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão explored the west coast of Africa and also sailed into Walvis Bay. Because of its abundance of whale and fish, the bay has been of interest to European and North American fishermen since the early 18th century and was annexed in 1795 by the crew of the British warship Star .
The bay is known for its biodiversity, including tens of thousands of South African fur seals , dolphins and sunfish as well as sea turtles and whales . It is used for tourism and by the port of Walvis Bay and surrounds the Walvis Bay lagoon , an internationally important Ramsar area . In addition, there are salt marshes on the southern edge , where the Kuiseb flows into the bay - most recently in 2011. In the southeast is the artificial Bird Island , which was created for guano extraction .
literature
- GJ Fox; JJJ Wilken: The History of the Port and Settlement of Walvis Bay 1878-1978. Perskor, Johannesburg 1978, ISBN 0-628-01319-1 .
- Andrew Goudie, Heather Viles: Landscapes and Landforms of Namibia. Springer, Dodrecht 2015, ISBN 978-94-017-8019-3 .
- Melinda Silverman: Between the Atlantic and the Namib. Namibia Scientific Society , Windhoek 2004, ISBN 3-936858-68-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Species Profiles. Namibian Dolphin Project. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- ^ Kuiseb River Reaches the Sea. Earth Observatory / NASA. Retrieved August 11, 2020.