The most dangerous coast in the world: ships fall apart as soon as they approach, and there are no villages and towns on thousands of miles of beaches.

"This is the most useless coastline in the world, with a total length of 1500 kilometers and a land area of about 20,000 square kilometers. However, it is impossible to develop harbor resources. Passing ships have to hide. If they are not careful, the ships will be destroyed, and the vast land will be uninhabited because of drought and desertification. "

On the way from etosha national park to Skeleton Coast, Professor Hannah, a German geologist I met by chance, said: Even though Namibia is relatively safe and has a huge space for tourism development, this coastline is still "the most remote and least visited seashore".

Professor Hannah came to inspect geological data at public expense, hoping to help Namibia develop land resources as much as possible, which is one of the compensation methods for "killing tens of thousands of Namibian aborigines during the German colonial period". However, a whole year has passed, and Professor Hannah is still full of pessimism about the future of this land.

The extreme heat and dryness in namib desert and the endless cold current in the Atlantic repel each other until they cancel each other out. Only the sea sand that is constantly blown ashore makes the vast land barren year by year. The key to how to improve this sea area and desert is finally focused on the "skeleton coast".

The name "Skull Coast" comes from 1933. A plane flying from South Africa to Britain crashed near the coast. When the British and South African rescue teams arrived, local fishermen said: Even if the pilot is found, only the skeleton can be seen. Since then, this coastline has been named "Skeleton Coast".

Namibian officials collectively refer to the coast from Rudriz to Alexandria as the skeleton coast. Because there are two settlements in the middle, Whale Bay and Swakopmund, people divide them into two parts. The 490-kilometer no-man's land between Rudritz and Whale Bay is a desert salt marsh area, and the rest is divided into north and south lines. The southern line is 500 kilometers long and open to the outside world. The 475-kilometer northern line is still off-limits to tourists.

Why isn't the northern line open?

The tour guide explained that the land elevation of the northern line is about 1 10 meters lower than that of the southern line, and sand dunes move and collapse frequently. For inexperienced tourists, accidents are disasters; There are several rivers in the southern line, which become underground rivers after drying up, with relatively more vegetation, and sand dunes are closely connected with soil, which is safe and worry-free. However, there will always be adventurous tourists sneaking into the northern line, and the management announced that "those with special needs and desert survival experience can apply and go to the northern line after three audits".

The tour guide held the mobile phone for 5 minutes and told me that the application was passed. Then he went to the gate of the scenic spot to get a special pass, leaving only my head covered with black lines: Is this the so-called layer-by-layer review? It was not until the end of the trip that the tour guide told me that the military police officer Etosha met had entered my passport number into the online ticketing platform, so Skull Head Coast not only exempted tickets, but also exempted a toll of 8 yuan for a car, so the application for going to the northern line was naturally green.

When you enter the gate of Skull Head Coast, you can see a warning sign that says the precautions inside the scenic spot. For example, motor vehicles, bicycles and other means of transportation are prohibited from entering off-highway areas, and no minerals can be taken away, and no cultural relics left behind, such as sunken ships and animal bones, can be destroyed.

There are six scenic spots to visit along the coast of Skull Head, namely, diamond mine site, oil drilling platform site, Lion Bay, sea fishing platform (cross corner), seal observation station and shipwreck bay.

The diamond mine originated from German colonists in 1902. At its peak, thousands of European and American businessmen gathered together to form a small town. It used to be Namibia's most dazzling "future star", contributing 40% of GDP. Unfortunately, the German army fully exploited the mine a few years before leaving Namibia, which made it difficult to repair the deposit. The town lost its economic resources and turned to desert salt marsh, which was completely abandoned after 1970.

20 10 in order to prevent the mining town from being destroyed by tourists, Namibia limits the tourist area to within 5 kilometers of the mining site, and only tourists with special passes can visit the town.

These abandoned houses used to be the German garrison and diamond trading market. In addition, hundreds of people are recruited to this town for simple training every year and then taken to the mine for mining. Sadly, most miners who entered the mine did not come out alive. People saw that they could only enter but could not leave, and privately nicknamed the German diamond mine "Man-eating Mine".

Despite hundreds of years of weathering, these houses built according to military camp standards are still strong and abnormal, except for the collapse of the wooden roof and cracks in some walls, the rest are intact. When I walked in, I found that the wooden doors and windows had already decayed into pieces. The room was full of sea sand blown by the sea breeze, and the thickest place was more than one meter.

"There are many poor people in Namibia. Why don't you live in these sturdy houses? " The tour guide gave me a look like a fool: live here and die? Don't say that small fishing boats can't stop at the seaside. Even if it can, it is still a long way from the coast, and there is no electricity, water or medical education. How can I live?

The second drilling platform is a dispensable scenic spot, and the tour guide did not recommend it. He showed me the photos in his mobile phone and said: This platform was built in 1970, which is the first beach oil well found on the coast of Africa. Due to the lack of experience at that time, people could only simply and rudely bind the parts with steel cables to form a mining platform, so it fell apart after only running for less than five years.

After crossing the drilling platform for about 5 kilometers, turn into a path leading to Lion Bay 40 kilometers away. This is also one of the closed areas, and only special groups such as animal protection organizations and health experts can enter. Seeing that the road was covered with dark brown volcanic honeycomb stones, I asked the tour guide doubtfully: Do these stones mean that there was a volcano here?

The tour guide checked the relevant information before answering: in theory, but geologists have not found craters on the skeleton coast and nearby inland. They can only guess that the coast was born 700 million years ago, during which volcanic eruptions or sea sand brought honeycomb-shaped stones. So far, there is no conclusion.

Lion Bay is actually located in the interior of the desert and has nothing to do with the bay. It is said that early desert lions often went to the coast to hunt seals, hence the name. According to the estimation of zoologists, these lions should come from etosha national park, get lost in an animal migration and run into the desert, and finally come to Lion Bay.

Lion Bay was originally a freshwater basin. After drying up, it becomes an underground river and flows into the Atlantic Ocean, which makes the vegetation along the way dense and attracts herbivores to live here for a long time. Desert lions can also live smartly on antelopes and zebras. At present, it is about 150-300, and it is forbidden to get off all the way.

In order to reach our destination before sunset, we had to give up filming and return. On the way, we met a modified RV with a flat tire. The owners are a couple from go on road trip. After the tour guide helped to change the tire, he solemnly asked them to turn around and come with us.

It turned out that the couple's application for a special pass was rejected, but they didn't know how to bypass the checkpoint and directly broke into Lion Bay. Luckily, they met us on the way. If there is a flat tire in a lion's haunt, there is no chance to change the tire.

The first stop is the tent hotel, which is one of the earliest hotels in Skull Coast. It used to be a convalescent center for German officers, with the Atlantic Ocean on the front and the intersection of two dry river beds on the back. Zebras, antelopes and giraffes can often be seen during the day, and occasionally lions and hyenas can be seen, so they are not allowed to wander around.

Continue along the coastal highway and you will find a sea fishing platform. Before you get to the seaside, you will see many cars with fishing rods in their heads. The tour guide said that these people are professional fishermen, and even some Europeans come to Wan Li to practice their hands. Because the fish on the Skeleton Coast are very strong, it takes ordinary adults several hours to catch a 20-pound (18kg) marine fish.

Seeing my incredulous expression, the tour guide patiently explained: Skeleton Coast is the most remote coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The cold water makes the growth cycle of marine fish very slow, and countless reefs and rapidly changing ocean currents along the way force marine fish to exercise for a long time, so a 20-kilogram marine fish can usually pull 200 kilograms, which is about twice as high as ordinary fish.

Because offshore fishing platforms often hold international offshore fishing activities, this area can barbecue freely within 10 km and set up tents at will. It is one of the few "free zones" on the Skull Coast.

However, the tour guide sneered at this and even said with a little disdain: quite a few of these fishermen are addicts. They gather in remote areas in the name of fishing, doing nothing more than invisible activities, and even European women have been stationed here for a long time.

80 kilometers in front of the sea fishing platform is the seal observation station, located in the northern part of Hentix Bay in Dolobo National Park. It is a rare fixed-point observation station for seals in Africa and even the world. Seals with the unit of 100000 can be seen here at any time of the year, and the annual calving season is even as high as one million, densely distributed on the coastline of10 km.

Why are so many seals concentrated in the hot desert?

One of the reasons is that the Skeleton Coast, which has the title of "the most dangerous coast in the world", even the most experienced captains dare not fish here, making the catch on the Skeleton Coast extremely rich. These seals will naturally follow the fish and stay for a long time.

Another reason is that thousands of miles of beaches along the coast have no traces of villages and towns and human beings, and there is no pollution and threat from human beings. In this place where lions can be regarded as "natural enemies" when they occasionally stroll on the beach, seals naturally eat enough and sleep warmly, and now it has become the densest coastline of African seals.

As the Seal Observatory continued northward, the number of sunken ships on the beach increased significantly. One of the most famous shipwrecks is Britain's Dunedin Star. It is said that this cruise ship with more than 800 passengers was punctured by a reef when it was 5 nautical miles away from the skeleton coast. The captain immediately sent a distress signal to the British navy, and the tugboat sank before it arrived. All the passengers and crew were buried in the sea.

It never rains but it pours. After the tug Sir Elliot of the British Royal Navy arrived at the wrecked sea area, it was suddenly swept by the undercurrent to a distance of 2 nautical miles from the skeleton coast. In this way, it hit at least 20 reefs and had to instruct the nearest freighter to rescue the sailors. However, as soon as the freighter approached, it encountered an undercurrent and finally settled directly on the skeleton coast. This serial disaster caused nearly 1000 British deaths, and the economic losses of three ships reached 654.38+0.5 billion pounds.

How many ships and people were killed on Skeleton Coast? I searched for this question for a long time and finally chose to ask the wizard.

His answer is: Some people have calculated that there are large and small ships 105 1 ship on the south line of Skull Head Coast, with tens of thousands of deaths, and the mortality rate is infinitely close to 100%. Many ships on the northern line are covered by sea sand, and the specific figures are difficult to count, but it is conservatively estimated that it will not be lower than the southern line. If you count the wrecked ships on the desert coast in the salt marsh area, the total number is at least 3,000.

Why is Skeleton Coast called the most dangerous coast in the world?

I asked Professor Hannah, a German geologist, but neither she nor the local tour guide gave a detailed answer.

At present, the most authoritative statements are divided into two categories. One kind claims that disasters mainly occur in the era of underdeveloped navigation technology. There are many reefs in the coastal waters of skeletons, and the currents are swift. Ships will run aground if they are not careful, and sailors will face the harsh environment of desert no man's land after hard work, so the mortality rate is extremely high.

Another view is that it is related to the climate, especially the collision between desert high temperature and Atlantic cold current at the junction of sand and sea. So far, scientists have not been able to calculate the climate evolution process, except that the eight-level gale is standard all the year round. Sudden rapids and strong winds quickly push the ship to the desert high temperature area and blow it directly to the skeleton coast like a hair dryer, while the reef rapids during the period can easily tear the ship.

Some people say that "all the dead are poor water", so let's take a look at the German cargo ship Straw, which ran aground on the reef and was taken to the coast 2000 meters away by waves and sea breeze. It only took two years. You know, this is a large ocean-going freighter with 50,000 tons of cargo. Compared with it, how small is human?