Cape Cross Namibia Seals
The photo above was taken at Cape Cross, in Namibia.
No, it’s not a rocky beach – those dark lumps are thousands of seals! Cape Cross is home to 100,000 seals, and consequently, judging by the putrid smell I ingested, must be one of the largest collections of seal poo and urine in the world.
The Portuguese explorer, Diego Cão was the first European to land here in 1486 and he erected a cross in honour of the King of Portugal.
In grand colonial fashion, the message left behind by Diego arrogantly stated ‘In the year 6685 after the creation of the world and 1485 after the birth of Christ, the brilliant far-sighted King John II of Portugal ordered Diego Cão, knight of his court, to discover this land and to erect this padrão here’.
I pondered that maybe the cross was erected as a monument to the countless senses of smell lost by Portuguese seamen, rueing that the much sought after peri-peri chicken aroma would never grace their nostrils again.
Cape Cross Toilet With Seals
Sure, it’s a bit smelly, but nonetheless Cape Cross it’s a remarkable collection of Great White Shark bait.
Namibia is a great place to visit, check out more in this book.
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August 24th, 2010 at 4:27 am
Anthony, great stuff! I’m about to set out on my own adventures and plan to take a ton of photos. Was thinking of setting up a blog as well to archive my adventures.
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