namibia: dunes, shipwrecks and the skeleton coast

Yes, but expect remnants and not whole ships.

Many vessels have come to grief on this shore, and this is what is left near the lodge: the remnants of the Suiderkus and the remains of the Karimona, both on the beach to the south, along with the abandoned Westies diamond mine and the wreckage of a Ventura bomber.

You pass them on the full-day drive down the coast to the Cape fur seal colony at Möwe Bay, and three nights at the lodge leaves room for that day.

The coast's name has two roots: the bones of whales and seals that used to lie along the sand, and the title of a 1944 account of the Dunedin Star disaster, which made the phrase stick.

Sea, wind and sand keep working on what remains, so go for the atmosphere of the place and treat each wreck as a bonus.

The Skeleton Coast is the flown part.

A light aircraft takes you up the coast to the airstrip at Möwe Bay, where the lodge's vehicle collects you for the last 45 kilometres north along the shore. Those pick-ups run at set times of day, which your flight is timed to meet.

No public road goes further: even travellers who drive themselves must leave their car at Möwe Bay, and the last fuel and phone signal are at Terrace Bay, 82 kilometres to the south.

The southern legs of this sample route go by road: reckon on five and a half to seven hours from the Windhoek area to Sesriem and five to six from Sesriem to Swakopmund, mostly on gravel. If you would rather fly those legs too, we can arrange it as a change to the route.

On the flights each person may bring 20 kilograms in all, hand luggage counted, packed in a soft bag.

Less than on a classic safari, and you should know that before you commit.

This route is about landscape: dunes, fog, seals and empty beaches. At Shipwreck Lodge wildlife sightings are rare. Oryx, springbok and black-backed jackal are the regulars, the Cape fur seal colony at Möwe Bay is a large one, and brown hyaena are often met on the full-day Hoarusib River excursion to the clay castles.

Desert-adapted elephants and lions do use that riverbed, and fortunate guests could possibly see them, but we would put it no higher. The night on the reserve outside Windhoek adds giraffe and antelope at the waterhole.

If big game matters to you, the simple fix is to add two or three nights at Etosha, or a Damaraland camp for desert elephant, after the coast. Ask us and we will show you how it fits.

Big Daddy is the hardest thing on this trip, and entirely optional.

It rises about 325 metres above the pan, the route follows the crest, and the sand gives way under every step, so most people need one and a half to two hours to reach the top. Coming down is the reward: about ten minutes straight down the face into Deadvlei.

The early start is about heat as much as light. From about nine o'clock the sand burns bare feet, and there is no shade anywhere.

Most visitors queue for the Sesriem gate, which opens at sunrise and still leaves 60 kilometres to cover, whereas Kulala's guides enter by the reserve's own gate, put at about ten minutes from the lodge, so you climb in the cool.

If you would rather not climb, Deadvlei is about a kilometre's walk over low dunes. Carry at least two litres of water each.

Colder than most people expect of a desert.

The Benguela Current carries cold water up this coast, and where it meets the warm land it makes dense fog and a chill sea breeze, so mornings and evenings in Swakopmund and at Shipwreck Lodge are often grey and damp even when it is hot an hour inland.

Expect cool temperatures and fog all year, with clearer mornings between November and April and chilly mornings and evenings from May to October, which is what the wood-burning stove in each cabin is for. Wind is part of it too.

Sossusvlei is the opposite: cold at dawn in winter, at times below freezing, and hot by late morning. So pack in layers:

• A fleece
• A windproof jacket
• A warm hat and gloves for winter dawns
• A sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen for the middle of the day

Closed shoes beat sandals on hot sand.

June to September, which we rate highest for Sossusvlei, Swakopmund and the Skeleton Coast alike.

The days are clear and mild, dawn at the dunes is cool enough to climb in comfort, and along the coast the dry months bring the desert-adapted animals down to the Hoarusib and Hoanib riverbeds. The catch is the cold: winter nights and foggy coastal mornings need proper warm clothes. At the dunes, May belongs with those months.

October and November are hot inland and pleasant on the coast.

December to February is the hardest time for Sossusvlei, with fierce heat by mid morning, yet on the coast it is the warmest and least foggy stretch of the year, the dunes are quiet, and the occasional summer storm gives photographers dark skies over red sand.

Late November and December is also when Cape fur seals on this coast have their pups.