Day 8: Swakop to Spitzkoppe

28 April 2019

After a quick breakfast, we packed up and drove up the coast through the sand and the fog. We made a brief stop to the shipwreck of the Zeila, a fishing trawler that was stranded in 2008, and another to see Hentiesbaai, a popular fishing and holiday spot. The landmark in Hentiesbaai is the gallows, erected by the first two permanent residents of the town as a warning to visitors to pick up their litter. The tourism website assures that this gesture is in line with “typical Afrikaans humour”.

We continued up the coast to see the seal colony at Cape Cross. This desolate spot is where Diogo Cao, an early Portuguese explorer erected a cross in 1486, and the inscription at the current replica reads: “In the year 6685 after the creation of the world and 1485 after the birth of Christ, the brilliant, far-sighted King John II of Portugal ordered Diogo Cão, knight of his court, to discover this land and to erect this padrão here.”

Sharing the small headland, Cape Cross is home to a seal colony that ranges from 200 000 - 250 000 in number. Most of the seals are females and their pups, and they alternate between fishing and frolicking in the waves and basking on the shore. They call to each other constantly, and the noises and smells are unremitting. We also saw a few wounded jackal limping around - they prey on the seal pups, but the female seals are fiercely defensive and the jackal often come off second best.

Next we drove inland and soon had a view of Klein Spitzkoppe in the distance. In stark contrast to the cold and misty weather along the coast, we were back in the hot, dry desert once again. We arrived and set up one of our best camps yet. We had ostriches wandering around, loeries in the trees, spectacular sunsets, and an inspiring view of the mountain we were hoping to summit the next day.

After a short walk, we prepared all our gear and food, had a quick supper and an early night.