| Sand
dunes come in a variety of guises and the Skeleton
Coast Park has hummock dunes, transverse dunes
and crescent dunes - given to roaring when millions
of tiny granules slide down the steep surface.
At times the dunes are stopped in their flow
by large seasonal rivers which often do not
make it all the way to the sea. The windswept
dunes and flat plains give way in places to
rugged canyons and extensive mountain ranges
with walls of richly coloured volcanic rock.
Such is the extraordinary geology of this area,
that some beaches contain a profusion of multi-coloured
pebbles consisting of agates, lava, granites
and others.
The
attraction for visitors to this park is its
untouched and mysterious barren beauty, swept
by cold sea breezes and often enveloped in a
dense fog. This sea mist accounts for the many
maritime remains and with each shipwreck, goes
a story of man against nature. Nature almost
always wins!
The
far-ranging sea mist creeps great distances
inland and gives life to a singular unique ecosystem
and most unusual plants. The strange ‘Elephant’s
Foot’ anchors itself in rock crevices
while desert succulents like lithops, look just
like pebbles until tiny yellow flowers emerge.
The ancient fossil plant, Welwitschia, is also
found in this region.
By
mid morning the mist has cleared and the timeless
beauty of the Skeleton Coast is revealed. Such
isolation as is found here, is not the usual
domain for humans, but those that visit are
privilege to one of the few places on earth
where you can experience fearless solitude and
become attuned to ocean echoes and desert silence.
Nobody
can live on this inhospitable coast, but further
inland on the peripheries of the desert, the
nomadic Himba tribe ekes out an existence. Clad
only in goatskins and jewelry fashioned from
leather, metal and shells, the Himba are amongst
the most beautiful people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
They posses an innate elegance and proud bearing
that westerners find difficult to emulate. The
Himba protect and adorn their bodies and hair
with rich ochre mud mixed with animal fat turning
their skin the colour of molten milk-chocolate.
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