Driving Through The Skeleton Coast

The name "Skeleton Coast" doesn't exactly sound like a very welcoming place. The bushmen referred to the area as "The Land God Made in Anger" while the Portuguese sailors called it "The Gates of Hell." Perhaps it's not the most inviting place?

To ships, that is definitely the case. While whale and seal bones once littered the shores, today it's the more than a 1000 shipwrecks along the coast that keep the name alive. Some of the road definitely parallels the coast, although I took this photo once I was already leaving the coast behind me. 

There's a couple cool shipwrecks that are easily accessible and make for a nice break from driving along the coast. The real attraction though, is the Cape Cross Seal Reserve and it's massive colony of seals. Still, much of the driving looks a lot like this. Endless flat desert, endless flat gravel roads, and perhaps some electric poles to line the way. There's nothing like leaving the demands of modern life behind for a couple weeks to travel around a desolate country faced with your own solitude to relax the soul.