After signing out of the Skeleton Coast National Park we get our first, and happily for us only, taste of the fog that supposedly lingers for hours and days on the coast. We pass through fast and at about 2 PM we arrive at Cape Cross Preserve. We pay the entrance fee and drive the additional distance to the seal colony.
Besides the seals there are of course birds, gulls, ruddy turnstones and cormorants.
But we are here for the seals. And it is difficult to describe the large number of seals including pups and of course the stench that permeates the air. And this is not the full strength colony which will occur only later during the year when it can get to more than 100K seals. We cannot even imagine more seals.
We take lots of pictures of seals in water and on the shore, of white seals and pups and of the interaction between the seals, it is almost overwhelming to see this many animals all gathered in one spot.
The pups especially are fun to watch, sometimes they are welcomed and sometimes pushed away mercilessly.
After an hour of watching the seals it is time to leave with one more overview of the assembled seals. Impressive!
The area is not protecting only seals though. This is the site where the first European explorer has set foot in the territory of modern day Namibia. He was a Portuguese explorer, Diego Cao, who reached the area in 1485 and promptly claimed it in the name of Portugal. The original cross was removed by Germany and is now in Berlin but there is now a replica of the cross as well as some informative signs at the site. And then it is time to return to civilization.
