Cape Cross Seal Reserve

Cape Cross holds one of the largest breeding colonies of Cape fur seals anywhere, and in peak season the number of animals on the rocks and in the surf runs into the tens of thousands. A boardwalk runs along the edge of the colony so visitors can watch without walking into it: bulls holding territory, females coming and going from the sea, and pups in constant noisy motion. It is loud, chaotic and, it has to be said, extremely smelly. Jackals and occasionally brown hyena patrol the fringes for weak pups. The site is also where the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão erected a stone cross in 1486, one of the first European markers on this coast, and replicas now stand at the point.

History

In 1484 King John II of Portugal sent Diogo Cão south along the African coast to claim prominent points with stone crosses, padrões. On his second voyage Cão reached Cape Cross in January 1486, the first European to come here, and set up a padrão that gave the cape its name; two replicas stand there today (Wikipedia, Cape Cross).

Highlights

• The colony boardwalk - viewing tens of thousands of seals from a raised walkway.
• Pupping season - newborn pups from around late November into December.
• Jackals on the fringe - scavengers working the edges of the colony.
• The stone crosses - replicas of the 1486 Portuguese padrão at the point.

When to go

The colony is there year-round. Numbers peak around November and December with the pupping season, which is also the most affecting and the most brutal to watch. Coastal fog is common in the mornings.

Good to know

The smell is genuinely overpowering and catches almost everyone out; it clings to clothes. Nature here is unsentimental, with dead pups on the beach and jackals working through them, which upsets some visitors and is worth preparing children for. The coast is cold, windy and foggy even when inland Namibia is baking.

Nearby

Swakopmund is two hours south; the Skeleton Coast park gate lies north.

Key facts