Ghosts of the Skeleton Coast

Our Ford Ranger was like a second home by now. We had ventured far South inland and now we were making our way through the Skeleton Coast National Park and up the Coastline.

The Skeleton Coast, named for the huge number of ships that have been wrecked over the years (the most recent being Fukuseki Maru in 2018), is one of Namibia’s harshest landscapes, and that’s saying something! 

Having driven through the spots demarked as Torra and Terrace Bay, we wondered what we could expect as we pulled into Mowe Bay because the earlier signs of life were sparse. Torra Bay’s accommodation was a collection of small structures with no sign of life and Terrace Bay was like a ghost town from the Wild West. It was an eclectic mix of abandoned services, including a caravan spray painted police and a petrol pump.

But the first thing you notice when you pass the sign marked Mowe Bay is the smell…

Although not visible, just beyond the road and down the sandy dune is a seal colony numbering tens of thousands. Hence the stench! From their wet bodies to the decaying remnants of youngsters, the aroma produced was quite something. 

Marliek actually smelt it first and I told her to stop complaining, then the wind changed and I got hit with a full-frontal assault of a fishy, cloying smell that really clogged the back of the throat. Welcome to Mowe Bay I thought.

Wanting to get a better look at the colony, we followed our noses, but on the way and as any guide would do, I looked at the sand for tracks.

Jackal tracks ran this way and that, as did several coastal birds, but what I was looking for didn’t take nearly as long as I had thought.

With a gait that is unique to these animals, the elliptic curve of the outer toe, the presence of claws and the angle at which they are laid make hyena tracks as clear as daylight. And we found them in abundance.

One of the pulls of the Skeleton Coast was to try and catch a glimpse of the elusive brown hyena, and we had our first major sign that they were definitely here. The tracks were fresh from the morning, but it was far too hot now for any individual to be out foraging. Just finding the tracks was exciting enough, and had ratcheted up the levels of possibility.

We made our way North of Mowe Bay to a place very few people venture. Shipwreck Lodge is in the middle of nowhere and is an absolutely beautiful place to stay.

After a gorgeous sunset and a most delightful, albeit too-short sleep, a 4:30 alarm got us up to go in search of the Ghosts of the Skeleton Coast. Sightings are rare, but you’ve got to buy a ticket to win the raffle.

With the vehicle’s roof hatch open, I hung out the top with a spotlight in hand, sweeping from left to right, hoping to catch some eyeshine which may give the creatures away. A jackal here and a scrub hare there were all that we came across in the two and a half hours of searching as we drove along the beach and went inland, partway along the Hoarusib River. Returning to the lodge after a fruitless search didn’t dampen our spirits and we have always accepted that it is just part and parcel of trying to find wildlife. Sometimes your luck is in, sometimes it isn’t.

Nonetheless, the rest of the day went beyond expectations, after quad biking through the dunes we went for a beach walk. The tracks of the brown hyena tormenting me as we made our way to the Atlantic. I could just imagine the creature slinking between the dunes, sniffing for any edible morsel. 

A faint whiff caught our nose which certainly distracted us, thankfully it wasn’t as pungent as seal colony, instead, it was charcoaling meat. As we rounded the corner, our lunch table had been set and so had the scene. A beach BBQ overlooking the Atlantic. Utmost beauty in this barren landscape.

And our hunt wasn’t over! After lunch and a siesta, we drove back along the Hoarusib, finally gaining enough height to look over the ‘moonscape’ to watch the sunset. Breathtakingly beautiful is an understatement of the scene that unfolded in front of us. 

Alas, all good things must come to an end and the light slowly gave way to darkness. Packing up the sundowners, we jumped back in the vehicle and headed for the lodge. Of course, we kept an eye out in the hope of catching a glimpse of a rounded figure stalking through the sand, but this time it was not meant to be and the Ghosts of the Skeleton Coast remained just as the name would suggest.