Blog 9 Day 10 28 May 80km From Torra Bay to Ugab Gate, the southern boundary of the 500km long Skeleton Coast National Park, I had to stick to the road, this time due to diamond mining tenements along the beach. Out of Torra Bay, the road was rugged and sandy in places, but in […]
The Skeleton Coast
Brown Hyaenas and Desert-adapted Kunene Lions
Blog 8 Day 7 25 May Mowe Bay – Rest The day off the bike at Mowe Bay turned out to be incredibly interesting. Before the fog had cleared, two brown hyaenas were spotted around the settlement. Of course, we were up immediately to get a closer look. Brown hyaenas are not aggressive, but we […]
Many stories to tell
Blog 7 Day 5 23 May Camping location: 18.72296 S; 12.30992 E, 4km south of the Hoarusib River mouth 56km Another delightfully foggy morning meant no significant wind. The tide was in though and so for the first 15km I struggled in the soft beach sand. Then, in search of a better surface, I discovered […]
Shipwrecks and Seals
Blog 6 Day 3 20 May Camping location: 18.39600 S; 12.00489 E, 5km from Cape Frio Distance: 49km The wind continued to howl all night and was equally as strong as yesterday. I counted four jackals hovering around our campsite amongst the large sand moguls. I set off at around 7.30am, back to the beach. […]
The Start, Mouth of the Kunene River
Blog 5 Day 1 18 May Mouth of the Kunene River to 17.67785 S, 11.76253 E 51km The Start We were up early, but it always takes a long time to break camp. From our beautifully sheltered camp, we drove about 10km back to the Kunene River mouth. A manager from the diamond mine at […]
Purros to the Kunene River Mouth
Blog 4 17 May We waited all morning at the Purros Community Lodge but he permit wasn’t signed. Jimmy managed to negotiate with the wardens at the southern end of the Skeleton Coast Park, whom he knew well. They agreed to allow us to enter the park as long as the pending permit was delivered […]
Twyfelfontein – Purros
Blog 3 Just south of Twyfelfontein is Brandberg mountain, an enormous extinct volcano that was once the same scale as Kilimanjaro, and roughly the same age. It erupted about 200 million years ago and blew off it’s top, sending volcanic material all over the world and reducing its height to 2500 metres. Heading north from […]
Back to Africa
Blog 1 Welcome to the first blog for this next expedition in my Breaking the Cycle series, The Skeleton Coast. As I write I am about two hours away from touching down in Johannesburg, en route to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Travelling with me is adventure filmmaker Kasimir Zierl. We are both excited; it […]
