After leaving Twyfelfontein our plan is to drive to Swakopmund but not on the faster and more mainstream route through Brandberg but through the longer and more scenic route through Skeleton Coast National Park. For us actually they would have the same length as we intend to visit the Cape Cross Seal Colony on the way and that would require additional travel time if we went through Brandberg. The road that we take, even though is one of the major ones, C39, is very corrugated and therefore we cannot go as fast as we need to go and it is also bone rattling. At least we see ground squirrels and goats on the way and we pass a few small farms with souvenir stands near the road.
Finally after about 100 km the road starts to improve and we arrive at the entrance of Skeleton Coast National Park. We sign in and are ready to pay the entrance fee however the guard tells us that there is no fee even though our guidebooks were mentioning quite a high one. So we buy instead a few souvenirs from the giftstand and ask about the state of the road going forward and he mentions it is much better. And it really is as it appears to have been recently graded and now we can make up for the time lost. The desert also changes and it becomes really desolated with nothing growing except a few welwitchias here and there.
After another 50 km where we meet only one car we arrive at the coastal road on which we will drive south to Swakopmund. There are dunes in the distance, the desert is still lifeless and the ocean that we glimpse in the distance seems really agitated with high waves.
The temperature also drops precipituosly from 30 degrees Celsius to 12 Celsius on the coast so we have to put on warmer clothing whenever we get out of the car. We pass the (luckily) dry wash of the Koichab river which at least has a few bushes and then we arrive at Toscanini.
Our first stop is at the Toscanini Diamond Mine, a small abandoned mine where only very few diamonds have been found. We plan to investigate the ruins of the mine and the cormorant colonies nearby, however we are surprised at the number of dead birds near the shore so we do not approach the colony.
There are fishermen who we see in the distance that fish directly from the shore, wonder if they catch anything. Probably, given the number of cormorants, correct? But many are dead so maybe we should not eat fish this evening at the restaurant.
The ruins themselves while small are interesting as we like to explore abandoned structures and cities. And mines, especially mines as the equipment can be quite specialized and fun to guess at what it might do.
After a short drive we stop at an abandoned oil rig nearby. This is one of the few remains of oil exploration in the area built in the 60s before the National Park was created.
Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for the area) they didn’t find any oil and now the ruins can be explored as long as no cormorants are nesting when it is off limits. Today no cormorants are nesting so it is our playground.
Surprisingly there is no one else around to explore this quite interesting ruin so we are all over it until we notice the time, it is time to leave as we still have lots of stops planned today.
The remainder of the drive through the national park has a stark beauty with the ocean on the right and the desert and sometimes dunes all around us. The road is in great shape and we make good time. Soon we arrive at the exit gate that plays on the Skeleton Coast theme as can be seen in the photo and where we sign out of the National Park, now it is time for the seals.
