Luxury Safaris in The Skeleton Coast

One of Earth's most desolate, dazzling coasts

This is arguably Namibia’s most striking destination, earning its formidable name over the centuries for its treacherous currents, barren shores and inhospitable beauty. However, today this location is one of the best reasons to do a flying safari over this remarkable landscape of shipwrecks, secret rivers, shifting sand dunes, mesmerising canyons and its well concealed life.

The terrain changes the further north you go, as does its inaccessibility. For about 250 kilometres north of Swakopmund to the Torra Bay the scene is mostly gravel plains and rocky desert. The southern part of the Skeleton Coast Park is accessible by car until Terrace Bay where its northern section or ‘wilderness area’ is restricted to fly-in visitors only.

What is not widely known about this area is that its various sand rivers such as the Omaruru, Ugab, Huab and Koichab that begin in the inner highlands create oases and water beds that support fascinating desert ecosystems, wildlife and even the Himba people, who have survived off these green inland rivers for centuries.

What to do

Staggering flying safaris
Wildlife to spot : Desert elephants, oryx, kudu, springbok, jackals. More seldom seen is the brown hyena, giraffe, zebra, lion and even cheetah
Cape Cross Seal Reserve is where you can observe vast colonies of Cape fur seals
Birds: Sanderlings, larks, brown snake eagle, falcons and flamingoes

Itineraries including The Skeleton Coast

Accommodation in The Skeleton Coast

Here are some of our travel designers' favourite options

Positive Impact

Wilderness Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp

Placed at the confluence of two tributaries in a broad valley of the Kaokoveld Desert, the camp offers an unforgettable gateway from which to experience both the thrillingly desolate Skeleton Coast and the private Palmwag Concession, alive with desert-adapted wildlife. You’ll get a feel for the exclusivity and wonderful remoteness of your accommodation as you fly in by light aircraft – the only way to access the camp. The imitate, luxury tented camp consists of just seven twin-bedded suites and one family unit, each complete with shaded outdoors decks from which to contemplate the valley’s starkly stunning, moon-like landscape. Scenic flights over desert shores reveal lonely shipwrecks, massive dunefields, floodplains and the Auses Spring. Explore the Hoanib Riverbed for sightings of elephant, lion, giraffe, gemsbok and springbok, shaggy brown hyaena and opportunistic black-backed jackal, or head to the rocky shoreline to get an earful of the noisy Cape fur seal colony. Unravel the mysterious history of the original ancient Strandloper people and the enigmatic stone circles they left behind and encounter the Welwitschia on a nature walk – one of the oldest and strangest plants on the planet.

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