Situated in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean of Namibia from the Kuene River to the Swakop River, the Skeleton Coast has been referred to as "The Land God Made in Anger" by the Namibian Bushmen, and "The Gates of Hell" by Portuguese Sailors.

Looking at the number of shipwrecks that have happened in the area, and is easy to see why. The Skeleton coast is subject to an upwelling of the Benguela current, leaving a dense ocean fog in place for much of the year. Add pounding heavy surf on the beach that makes it pretty impossible for human powered boats to relaunch at sea, and throw in an inhospitable, dry coast filled with long sand dunes and a hundreds of mile long desert on the other side, means that you've got a place with a high likelihood of shipwrecks with low recovery and survival possibilities.

As a tourist along the area though, things are a little different. Along the coast, the ship remnants trapped in sand take on a mystical quality. The coast is beautiful in its alien-ness. A number of animals have eked out a living along the coast, including some giraffes, the odd rhino, oryx, and more. The area has been designated as a wilderness area, and other areas include large salt pans, as well as clay castles.

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