About 300 ships are known to have sunk off the Namibian coast. The combination of fog, strong winds, heavy swells and shifting sands make the Namibian coastline hazardous for ships. 

Just how risky is illustrated by the great number of shipwrecks along our coast. Many of the wrecks are clustered in areas more hazardous than others, or in places where ships often congregated. For example, the 45 wrecks known around Ichaboe Island date from the mid-1840s when several hundred ships at any time were loading bird guano – the 'white gold' that was so highly valued. Many other ships came to harvest whales and fish along the Namibian coast. 

Credit : environmental information center

Tour operator : Johan van Zyl, National Guide L4.