Namibia's coastline is known as the Skeleton Coast, according to some accounts because of the large number of shipwrecks that have happened there, over 500 of them over the centuries (ships get lost in the morning fogs, a feature of the area, and heavy surf and strong tides wash them up on the beach); according to another version the name arose because it's such an inhospitable part of the world that most humans who venture into it, shipwrecked or not, end up dead.
North of Swakop is the Skeleton Coast Park. We didn't drive very far into it because the distances are again huge, so we stopped at the first ship wreck we saw - a fairly recent one, by the looks of it - it still had its paint and didn't seem broken up (it's called the Ze'la - I couldn't find any reference to it on the internet so if anyone knows how to find some information let me know). I would've loved to get on board and see what was left on the ship, but caution easily won the day - this is not a good beach for swimming.
Above the tideline the sand was littered with... bones. Mostly animal bones, one presumes and hopes - I saw an identifiable carcass of a jackal, and we found an enormous vertebra which must have come from a whale - this was half buried in the sand so perhaps the rest of the skeleton was beneath our feet - it's hard to imagine bones that size being scattered around very easily or carted off by scavengers.
Why so many animal bones? Well amazingly enough the area does support quite a lot of wildlife - the plants survive on the sea fogs, herbivores graze the plants (including, apparently, elephants, giraffes and rhinos in some areas), there are a few lions to help natural selection along, and jackals, hyenas and crabs keep the beach clean. Leaving the bones. Skeleton Coast indeed.
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