The World's Most Dangerous Coast Ships shred when they approached, and there were no villages and towns for thousands of miles on deserted beaches
This coastline is one of the most littered in the world, with a length of more than 1,500 kilometers and an area of more than 20,000 square kilometers, but because there is no port, all passing ships have to take a detour, and one wrong step can lead to shipwreck and death, and due to lack of water and desertification, people simply cannot survive here. ”
On his way to the Coast of Bones, he met a German geologist, Hannah, who once said that although Namibia is a relatively stable place with a lot of tourism, its coastal areas are still "the most remote and remote beaches".
Dr. Hannah came here this time to study geographical data and to maximize the development of Namibia's territory, which can be regarded as a kind of compensation for the killing of Namibian natives during German rule. However, it has been more than a year, and Dr. Hannah is not optimistic about the prospects of this continent at all.
There, the hot and arid Namib Desert and the cold currents of the Atlantic Ocean clash and cancel each other out, leaving only small patches of sand that make this large piece of land barren year by year, and the solution to the problems of the sea and desert becomes the "Skeleton Coast".
The "Skull Coast" got its name in 1933, when a South African passenger plane bound for Britain crashed off the coast, and when the British and South African rescue teams arrived, the fisherman told them that even if you could find the pilot, there would only be a skeleton. Since then, it has been called "Skull Coast".
Namibia** calls the section from Lüderitz to Alexandria the "Skeleton Coast", because there are also two settlements of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, so it is divided into two parts, 490 kilometers of Lüderitz and Walvis Bay are divided into desert areas, and the remaining part is divided into two, one is south and one is 500 kilometers, which is open to the public, and the northern line is 475 kilometers and is not yet open.
In short, since everyone has chosen the southern route, why can't the northern route be opened?
The tour guide said that the terrain of the northern line is more than 110 meters lower than that of the southern line, and there are often sandstorms and landslidesThere are several rivers on the southern route, but all of them have dried up and become a dark river, where there are more plants and sand is stronger, so few people are worried. But there are also some people who like to explore and want to smuggle to the northern route, so the organizer released a message: "People who have special needs or have experience in surviving in the desert can sign up and go through three links to enter the northern route." ”
The tour guide used his mobile phone to operate on it for five minutes, prompting me that I had passed, and then went to the door to apply for a special document, and I could see the black line on my face. Later, the tour guide told me that the officer at Etosha had registered my identity in the online ticketing system, and that it was not only free, but also that each car was free for $8, and that it was easy to get to the northern route.
At the entrance to the Skull Coast there is a sign that states some of the taboos of tourist attractions, including that vehicles such as cars and motorcycles are not allowed to enter off-road areas, that minerals are not carried, and that other monuments are not damaged, including boats, animal skeletons, etc.
There are six sites on the route: the site of a diamond mine, the site of an oil rig, Lion's Bay, Sea Fishing Terrace (Cross Point), Seal Observatory and Shipwreck Bay.
This diamond mine originated in Germany, and in 192, thousands of European and American businessmen gathered here to establish a small town here, which is the "future star" of Namibia's economic development, accounting for 40% of GDP. Unfortunately, the Germans had been digging desperately for several years before evacuating Namibia, resulting in the destruction and collapse of the mineral deposits, which were difficult to recover, and the town had no income and could only rely on a saline swamp in the desert for development, which was completely abandoned in the seventies.
In 2010, Namibia restricted mining towns to 5 kilometres from the mining area to tourists with special permits in order to prevent the destruction of mining towns by tourists.
The tour guide pointed to the abandoned house and said: "This is the residence of the German ** side, and it is also a gem market, where hundreds of people are recruited and sent here to mine after a short training." Unfortunately, most of the people who were poached did not return, and the situation of "only entering but not leaving" was seen, and the German drillers were called "cannibalistic mines".
Despite hundreds of years of wind and rain, the barracks, built to the specifications of the army, are still very strong, except for the wooden roofs that have collapsed a little and the walls have cracked. Walking into the room, he saw that the wooden doors and windows had rotted into powder, and the room was littered with sand, more than a meter thick.
There are so many poor people in Namibia, why can't they live in a sturdy house?The tour guide looked at the idiot with an idiotic expression: stay here and wait for death?Besides, they don't have enough boats to dock on the beach, and even if they do, it's far away, there is no electricity, no water, no medical care, no education, how can they survive?
The second destination is a tourist attraction, the tour guide does not recommend it, he pointed to his mobile phone ** and said: "This is a 70s building, the first beach oil field in the coastal region of Africa, because of the lack of technology, workers use ropes to connect the parts together to form a mining platform, which is why it disintegrated after five years of service." ”
After about 5 kilometers of the drilling platform, you can follow a trail to reach Lion Bay, which is more than 40 kilometers away, which is also a restricted area and is only accessible to special groups such as animal protection groups, health professionals and photographers. The road was full of black honeycomb rocks, and I asked the guide curiously, "Could it be a volcanic eruption?"”
In a sense, it is, but our geographers have not found any volcanoes here, we just speculate that this beach has existed for at least 700 million years, either by a volcanic eruption or by sand that brought the hive here. ”
Lion Bay is actually on a barren land, and has no connection with this sea area at all, and legend has it that in the early years, there was a desert lion hunting here by the sea, hence the name. Zoologists estimate that they came from Aitosha National Park, where they lost their way during a mass migration and eventually escaped.
Lion Bay was originally a shallow river, but it was later drained to form a dark river to the Atlantic, along the way with lush vegetation, attracting a large number of herbivores, who feed on antelopes and zebras, on this route, they can live freely, now there are about one hundred and fifty to more than three hundred, so no one is allowed to leave this road.
Because we had to get to the resting place before the sun went down, we had to go back from the original route, on the way we passed a modified car with a flat tire, driven by a couple from Japan, and the tour guide helped us change the tires, and asked them to turn around and follow us.
In fact, the couple's special pass was denied, but they didn't know how to bypass the card, all the way into Lion Bay, fortunately they met us halfway, if the tire burst in the lion group, it would be too late to change the tire.
The first destination is a tent hotel, which is a sanatorium with the Atlantic Ocean in front and two dry rivers in the back, so here, there are zebras, antelopes, giraffes, lions, hyena herds, so you can't move around at will.
Because there are eight private rooms, you need to make a reservation, and most of the wealthy people in Europe and the United States are here, and the lowest is 300 yuan.
Along the coastal road all the way to the sea fishing platform, before you get close to the shore you can see a lot of cars with fishing rods, according to the tour guide, they are all professional anglers, and there are some European tourists from far away places who come to train, after all, the fish here is very strong, an adult man has to catch a large fish weighing 18 kilograms for several hours.
Seeing my puzzled eyes, the tour guide patiently explained to me: "The Skull Coast is located in the most remote place in the Atlantic Ocean, the cold climate limits the growth rate of fish in the ocean, coupled with countless reefs on the bottom of the sea, as well as unpredictable currents, so that they swim in the water for a long time, so a twenty-pound fish can exert the strength of two hundred catties, which is twice that of ordinary fish."
Because the fishing platform often hosts global fishing tournaments, you can barbecue and set up camp within a 10-kilometre radius, making it one of the few "free zones" on the Skull Coast.
But the tour guide was very unimpressed with this statement, and some were unimpressed: "Some people are addicted to drugs, and they will do shady things in remote areas under the pretext of fishing, and there are prostitutes in Europe." ”
Eighty kilometres away from the fishing platform is Dorob National Park, north of Henties Bay, home to the rarest seal spotting in Africa and the world, home to more than 100,000 seals every day of the year, and 1 million during the breeding season in December, along 10 kilometres of coastline.
Why do so many seals congregate on the edge of the desert in the sweltering heat?
One of the reasons is that even the most experienced pirates don't go there to fish, which is why there are so many fish on Skull Beach that they choose to settle there.
On the other hand, because there are no villages and no people, there is no pollution here, and there is no human activity here, and for these guys who are considered "natural enemies" even if lions come, so there is plenty of food and water here, so this is already the area with the largest number of sea lions in Africa.
As they advanced, they saw more wreckage, most notably the British "Dunedin", which was smashed by a reef five miles from the shores of the bones, and the captain immediately appealed to the British Navy for help, but before they could arrive, the ship had sunk to the bottom of the sea, and both the people on board and those on board died in the sea.
Unfortunately, when the British Earl Eli Ott arrived at the scene of the accident, it was carried by a strong current two miles from Skull Beach, smashing more than 20 reefs along the way, and a nearby cargo ship was forced to send people to the rescue, but the cargo ship encountered a strong current when it approached the wreck, and finally ran aground on Skull Beach, a series of accidents that killed thousands of Britons and caused economic losses of 150 million euros to the three ships.
In this sea area, how many ships and how many people died?I thought about it for a long time and decided to go to the tour guide.
As far as I know, on the southern line of the Skull Coast, a total of 1,051 ships were destroyed, tens of thousands of people were killed, and the mortality rate reached almost 100%. "As for the northern route, there are a lot of ships buried by sea sand, and it is difficult to calculate the exact number, but at least it will not be worse than the southern one. Add to this the shipwrecks in the salt marshes and along the desert coast, adding up to more than 3,000.
Why is this the most dangerous beach in the world?
I also asked Hannah, a German geographer, but neither she nor the local guide could give a detailed explanation.
There are two main opinions, one is that most of the disasters occurred in the era of lack of technology, because the reefs and currents are strong, and if you are not careful, you will be trapped here, and the sailors have to face the desert, so the mortality rate is high.
Others say that it is due to weather reasons, such as the cold Atlantic Ocean near the desert, which causes the temperature to rise, but it is not yet possible to determine the exact weather change, the only thing that is certain is that the storm will carry the ship to the hot area of the desert, such as being blown to the beach by a hair dryer, and then torn to pieces by the reef and currents.
It is often said that "people who are killed are people who can't swim", so consider the German steamer Straw, which was thrown from a reef more than 2,000 meters away in just two years. You know, it's a giant sea ship that can carry 50,000 tons of supplies, and in front of it, what is a person?