| Swakopmund is so much fun that we spend another morning here. Then we drive north along the
"Skeleton Coast," so-named for the great number of shipwrecks that have occurred along this desolate shoreline.
We watched seals lie on the coast near Cape Cross. At this spot in 1485, a Portugese explorer named Diego Cao became
the first European to make landfall this far south in Africa. He erected a huge stone cross that proclaimed
the greatness and brilliance of Portugal's King John. No doubt the seals, the only animals present to witness the
event, were impressed.
|
 |
| Swakopmund's beachfront. With so much sand, Namibia had to have a good beach town. |
 |
| The tallest building in Swakopmund: the lighthouse, an important building for the Skeleton Coast. Many ships have crashed because of fog which is created when the hot desert air hits the cold water along the coast. |
 |
| Worship me you ignorant masses. |
 |
| Cape Cross - When Diego Cao erected his cross at this point, he thought he'd found the southernmost tip of Africa. He was wrong. A few years later another Portugese sailor, Dias, actually accomplished this feat and erected a cross at Mossel Bay. The sailors
carried these massive stone crosses all the way from Portugal - wouldn't a flag have been easier? |
| |
| |
| |
| |