Today was expected to be mostly about the activity, and that was probably correct. This isn’t to say that the drive wasn’t enjoyable, but the activity was so much better than we had expected.
- Start: Walvis Bay
- Destination: Cape Cross
- Distance: 162km
- Planned Duration: 2hours
- Actual Duration: 4 hours
- Animals Seen: Jackal, Cape Cormorant, White Breasted Greater Cormorant, Cape Seal, Pelican
Pelican Point Kayaking
An activity which is really raved about, which we decided to do is kayaking at Pelican Point, the reason it is so special is that there is a massive colony of Cape Seals there, who are totally chilled about people Kayaking near them, in fact they often play with the people in Kayaks as they are curious and playful. When booking I had noticed that there was a self drive option, this really appealed to me as it meant that I knew it would be easy to take my photography gear and it certainly sounded more fun that sitting in the back of a bus for a long time to get to Pelican Point.
The drive there was really amazing, and to be honest by the time I got there I wasn’t that interested in actually doing the kayaking as I had had such a good time. We saw Flamingos, Jackals, Cormorants and so many seals and seal pups, who were so cute. This was improved by the fact we were driving in soft sand on a small spit of sand which went out with the sea on both sides, amazing. On the way there we had lots of photo stops and it was just really enjoyable.
Shortly after getting into a kayak, we were fully engaged with the experience of kayaking with the seals, the guides ensured we kept a large distance from the shore, due to it being the breading season and there being lots of pups. We were surrounded by seals in the water, who didn’t seem to care that we were there in the slightest, they were less playful than the guides/reviews seemed to suggest, but we guess this is due to the fact that there were so many pups which needed feeding and most of the seals were pretty engaged in hunting.
After about an hour out on the water we returned to the shore for some sandwiches and coffee before making the trip back to Walvis Bay.
Journey to Cape Cross
At this point we headed north up the coast we our destination being Cape Cross on the Skeleton Coast. En route we stopped off at Swakopmund to do a bit more shopping, wonder around the pier and get some fuel, which added quite some time to our planned journey.
On our way up the Skeleton Coast, we also stopped off at the first major shipwreck, something the skeleton coast is famous for, the Zeila. This ship sunk relatively recently so it is still very complete. After a bit of photography we made the last bit out the journey up the, surprisingly, tar road to Cape Cross, where we were treating ourselves to a night in accommodation rather than the truck.
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