How do you get to the Skeleton Coast?

Most travelers fly in by light aircraft and land on a gravel airstrip, since much of the northern coast is protected and tightly controlled.

What wildlife lives on the Skeleton Coast?

Cape fur seal colonies, brown hyenas and jackals, and, if you're lucky, desert-adapted lions and elephants.

Where should I stay on the Skeleton Coast?

Shipwreck Lodge, designed as a nod to the wrecked ships along this coast, with no light pollution and only the sound of the ocean at night.

Skeleton Coast Luxury Fly-In Safari Guide

Q: Which shipwrecks can you see on the Skeleton Coast?

The Eduard Bohlen (1909), now stranded far from the water, the Dunedin Star (1942), and the Zeila (2008), a fishing trawler near Henties Bay.

The Skeleton Coast is where the Namib Desert meets the Atlantic, a fog-wrapped shoreline scattered with shipwrecks and whale bones. Portuguese sailors called it the Sands of Hell. Today it's one of the most quietly beautiful places in Africa.

How do you visit the Skeleton Coast in luxury? Fly in. Much of the northern coast is protected and tightly controlled, so most travelers arrive by light aircraft onto a gravel strip. You'll see shipwrecks from the air, Cape fur seal colonies on the beach, and you might find desert-adapted lions or elephants. Shipwreck Lodge is the place to sleep.

Key facts

How to get there: by light aircraft, landing on a gravel airstrip. Much of the northern coast is protected and tightly controlled.
What you'll see: Cape fur seals, brown hyenas and jackals, desert-adapted lions and elephants if you're lucky, and the wrecks of the Eduard Bohlen, Dunedin Star and Zeila.
Where to stay: Shipwreck Lodge, designed as a nod to the wrecked ships along this coast.
Caviar trip: our private 7-day Namibia Flying Safari Experience spends two nights on the Skeleton Coast, with a seal colony visit and a beach picnic.

Access and exclusivity

Much of the northern Skeleton Coast is protected and tightly controlled, and most travelers arrive the easy way, by light aircraft, landing on a gravel strip in the middle of nowhere. There's no crowd, very little cell service, and only the sound of the Atlantic.

What you'll see

Cape fur seal colonies, desert-adapted lions and elephants if you're lucky, brown hyenas, and jackals.

Hundreds of Cape fur seals crowded together on a sandy beach on Namibia's coast Photo: katsuma tanaka / Unsplash

A desert-adapted elephant walking through a dry riverbed in northwest Namibia Photo: Alan J. Hendry / Unsplash

Then there are the wrecks: the Eduard Bohlen (1909), now stranded in the sand far from the water, the Dunedin Star (1942), and the Zeila (2008), a fishing trawler near Henties Bay.

The rusted wreck of the Zeila fishing trawler in the surf near Henties Bay, Namibia Photo: Sam Power / Unsplash

Claire's Skeleton Coast trip

If you fly in, the flight alone is extraordinary. You watch the desert coast unfold below and spot shipwrecks from the air. On our trip we reach the coast from Hoanib Valley Camp by road, and that drive is a show of its own, with giraffes and hyenas among the dunes until the desert gives way to the Atlantic. Shipwreck Lodge is designed as a nod to the wrecked ships along this coast. At night there's no light pollution and no sound but the ocean.

If you've done classic safaris and want something different, the Skeleton Coast is it. Pair it with the red dunes in my Sossusvlei guide, and see the whole circuit in my Namibia luxury safari guide.

Discover the Skeleton Coast with Caviar in the Air, where the quiet is the luxury.

6X Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist with 65+ countries visited across all 7 continents.