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Skeleton Coast
The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San people (formerly known as Bushmen), of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell". On the coast, the upwelling of the cold Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs (called ''cassimbo'' by the Angolans) for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, rainfall rarely exceeds annually, and the climate is highly inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf on the beaches. In the days before engine-powered ships and boats, it was possible to get ashore through the surf but impossible to launch from the shore. The only way out was by going through a marsh hundreds of kilometres long and only accessible via a hot and arid desert. The c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skeleton Coast National Park
Skeleton Coast National Park is a national park located in northwest Namibia, and has the most inaccessible shores, dotted with shipwrecks. The park was established in 1971 and has a size of .Shollenbarger, MariaMars on Earth: Traveling Namibia's Skeleton Coast Conde Nast Traveler. January 25, 2018. The park is divided into a northern and southern section, the southern section is open to those with 4 wheel drive vehicles, they are allowed to go up (north) as far as the Ugab River Gate (where a sign with a skull and crossbones warns you to go no further). The northern section can only be reached by a fly-in safari, and the area is off-limits to all vehicles. The list of tourist attractions in the park includes a shipwreck at the South West Seal viewpoint, Huab lagoon and the collapsed oil drilling rig. Springbok Gate.jpg, Springbok Gate, the eastern entry Ugabmund_Gate.jpg, Ugabmund Gate (Ugab River Gate), the southern entry Collapsed_oil_drilling_rig.jpg, Collapsed oil drilling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namibia Homelands 78
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres (660 feet) of the Botswanan right bank of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth of Nations. The driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia has been inhabited since pre-historic times by the San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then, the Bantu groups, the largest being the Ovambo, ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surfing
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable for surfing are primarily found on ocean shores, but can also be found in standing waves in the open ocean, in lakes, in rivers in the form of a tidal bore, or in wave pools. The term ''surfing'' refers to a person riding a wave using a board, regardless of the stance. There are several types of boards. The Moche of Peru would often surf on reed craft, while the native peoples of the Pacific surfed waves on alaia, paipo, and other such water craft. Ancient cultures often surfed on their belly and knees, while the modern-day definition of surfing most often refers to a surfer riding a wave standing on a surfboard; this is also referred to as stand-up surfing. Another prominent form of surfing is body boarding, where a surfer rides th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mussels
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval. The word "mussel" is frequently used to mean the bivalves of the marine family Mytilidae, most of which live on exposed shores in the intertidal zone, attached by means of their strong byssal threads ("beard") to a firm substrate. A few species (in the genus ''Bathymodiolus'') have colonised hydrothermal vents associated with deep ocean ridges. In most marine mussels the shell is longer than it is wide, being wedge-shaped or asymmetrical. The external colour of the shell is often dark blue, blackish, or brown, while the interior is silvery and somewhat nacreous. The common name "mussel" is also used for many freshwater bivalves, including the freshwater pearl mussels. Freshwater mussel species in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation. These features provide a useful resource for archaeologists who wish to study the diets and habits of past societies. Middens with damp, anaerobic conditions can even preserve organic remains in deposits as the debris of daily life are tossed on the pile. Each individual toss will contribute a different mix of materials depending upon the activity associated with that particular toss. During the course of deposition sedimentary material is deposited as well. Different mechanisms, from wind and water to animal digs, create a matrix which can also be analysed to provide seasonal and climatic information. In some middens individual dumps of material can be discerned and analysed. Shells A shel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strandloper Peoples
The Strandlopers are a Khoikhoi-derived people who live by hunting and gathering food along the beaches of south-western Africa, originally from the Cape Colony to the Skeleton Coast. Most Strandloper communities did not persist in the face of demographic and economic changes occurring in southern and south-western Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries, and disappeared through assimilation. The only tribe still distinguishable from their assimilating neighborhood are the Topnaar of the southern Namib who in 2005 consisted of around 500 members, distributed over 12 small settlements along Kuiseb River in central Namibia. Although the other communities have disappeared, archaeological evidence of their existence remains in the form of middens containing seashells, pottery and the bones of whales and seals, as well as ash and charcoal. Etymology The name is Afrikaans and Dutch for “beach walker”. The term has been extended by archaeologists to refer to coastal communities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers a total area of of land. The bay is a safe haven for sea vessels because of its natural deepwater harbour, protected by the Pelican Point sand spit, being the only natural harbour of any size along the country's coast. Being rich in plankton and marine life, these waters also drew large numbers of southern right whales, attracting whalers and fishing vessels. A succession of colonists developed the location and resources of this strategic harbour settlement. The harbour's value in relation to the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope had caught the attention of world powers since it was discovered by the outside world in 1485. This explains the complicated political status of Walvis Bay down the years. The town is situated j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oranjemund
Oranjemund (German for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border to South Africa. History The entire area along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean was proclaimed restricted (the '' Sperrgebiet'') in 1908 due to the occurrence of alluvial diamonds. Since then the public was forbidden to enter it. In 1927 diamonds were found south of the Orange River in South Africa. Hans Merensky and other prospectors assumed that the northern shore on South West African territory would also have diamonds. A year later they conducted an expedition from Lüderitz to the mouth of the Orange. They found rich deposits on the north bank of the Orange River and the adjacent northern coastline and established a tent camp from which Oranjemund developed. Due to the Great Depression, diamond mining was not taken up until 1935, and a year later workers' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunedin Star
MV ''Dunedin Star'' was a UK refrigerated cargo liner. It was built by Cammell Laird and Co in 1935–36 as one of Blue Star Line's -class ships, designed to ship frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom. It served in the Second World War and is distinguished for its role in Operation Halberd to relieve the siege of Malta in September 1941. ''Dunedin Star'' was lost at the end of November 1942 when it ran aground at Clan Alpine Shoal in the South Atlantic on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, then South West Africa. A complex sea, air, and land operation overcame many setbacks and rescued all of its passengers, crew, and gunners. An aircraft, a tug and two of the tug's crew were lost in rescue attempts. It took a month for the last of ''Dunedin Star''s crew to reach Cape Town, and more than two months for the last of the rescuers to return. Building Cammell Laird and Co in Birkenhead, England built ''Dunedin Star'', launching it on 29 October 1935 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eduard Bohlen
''Eduard Bohlen'' was a ship that was wrecked on the Skeleton Coast of German Southwest Africa (now Namibia) on 5 September 1909 in a thick fog. The wreck currently lies in the sand from the shoreline. Service The ship was a 2,272 gross ton cargo ship with a length of . In September 1909, it ran aground in thick fog and was wrecked at Conception Bay while on a voyage from Swakopmund to Table Bay. Wreck The Bohlen lies near two wrecks of ''Otavi'', which foundered here and sank in 1945, and , among the many wrecks of the Skeleton Coast. In popular culture A 1990s documentary on another vessel lost on the same beach miles away, the MV ''Dunedin Star'', also featured the Bohlen. The wreck was featured in the 2011 television series ''Wonders of the Universe ''Wonders of the Universe'' is a 2011 television series produced by the BBC, Discovery Channel, and Science Channel, hosted by physicist Professor Brian Cox. ''Wonders of the Universe'' was first broadcast in the United K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately three million shipwrecks worldwide (an estimate rapidly endorsed by UNESCO and other organizations). When a ship's crew has died or abandoned the ship, and the ship has remained adrift but unsunk, they are instead referred to as ghost ships. Types Historic wrecks are attractive to maritime archaeologists because they preserve historical information: for example, studying the wreck of revealed information about seafaring, warfare, and life in the 16th century. Military wrecks, caused by a skirmish at sea, are studied to find details about the historic event; they reveal much about the battle that occurred. Discoveries of treasure ships, often from the period of European colonisation, which sank in remote locations leaving few livi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
