Our itinerary included a day or two at Bosluisbaai, where fishing is supposed to be excellent. But, we had quite a bit of ground to cover before getting there.
As we were already a little bit in-land, Luciano added to our list of sights by taking us to yet another destination that seemed to be through a gateway to a different planet. I cannot remember what the koppie that we ascended was called, but it was another great example of how drastic and quickly the landscape can change in this region.
One minute we were still driving dunes, the next the ground became hard and had a distinct green tint. The colour comes from thousands of little green stones that covers the landscape.
The climb up the koppie was semi-tough, but worth it. The view from the top was spectacular, despite the misty conditions.
There were agate stones everywhere, with varying patterns and translucency. Agates are well-known for their beauty and are frequently used in jewellery. The many different examples kept us exploring for quite some time.
The rocks that make up the koppie are covered by lichens. This was not the only place we saw lichens, but was probably the example with most abundance.
After that, we headed back to the coast and visited the well-known seal colony at Angra Fria. As others will tell you, if your windows are open you will smell the seals long before you see them!
I don’t know quite how many seals there are, but we saw three colonies with probably a good couple of hundred seals in each (how’s that for a precise answer)! Several seals were also in the water. Among the seals, jackals were scavenging and presumably looking for stray pups.
Apparently a seal eats approximately 4-6% of it’s own body weight in fish per day. Considering that a large cape fur male weighs in around 200-300kgs, there has to be a lot of fish in this ocean.
We were due to sleep in the wild tonight, but considering the strong wind, we opted to push through to Bosluisbaai. We could not use the camp, as a previous group was still there, but we were able to camp a bit in-land, sheltered by large dunes on two sides.
The following day, we were able to move to the camp where we had hot showers and a kitchen at our disposal for two days. We made full use of these luxuries. The bathrooms were excellent, and I made use of the shower following a mumbled comparison to the odour of a seal, coming from my wife.
We took the opportunity to fish for the next two days. Whilst this is not a fishing trip, the days at Bosluisbaai are pretty yours to do what you want (dune driving, fishing, or just chilling with a book). Despite relatively short stints fishing, we caught quite a few nice sized Kabeljou.
It is strictly catch and release – but rumour has it one made it into the pan.
In addition to the kitchen, there is a big open area with a bar (unstocked) where we had dinner. These turned out to be quite festive. You will never have enough drinks or enough diesel on this trip – plan carefully.
From Bosluisbaai it is a short drive to the Kunene river mouth. The road there goes past yet another abandoned mine (diamonds, this time). The river is not massive, but certainly bigger than anything else you’ll encounter on this trip. In the distance is Angola.
They have clean diesel at Bosluisbaai. The premium is probably around 50%, due to the difficulty of getting the diesel to the camp. If you are even remotely uncertain about your fuel, discuss it with the guide and rather fill an extra jerry-can. Once you leave Bosluisbaai, it is traversing dunes all the way into Kaokoland and your jaw will drop will as fast as the fuel-gauge.
But let’s keep the dune crossing for the next post!
Skeleton Coast 2025 #1: Introduction
Skeleton Coast 2025 #2: Getting there
Skeleton Coast 2025 #3: Swakopmund – old German charm
Skeleton Coast 2025 #4: Through the mist to somewhere north of Terrace Bay
Skeleton Coast 2025 #5: Up towards Angra Fria
Skeleton Coast 2025 #6: Towards and at Bosluisbaai
Skeleton Coast 2025 #7: Across the dune belt and into Hartmansvallei
Skeleton Coast 2025 #8: Down to Purros and Sesfontein