I ask Phil van Wyk, our tour leader, how far away it is. “About 2km,” he says.
The wheels of the Toyota Land Cruiser roll smoothly over the sand. To the left, the south-westerly wind works the Atlantic Ocean into a froth. I get my cellphone ready to video the big moment.
At first, all I can see is a muddy stain in the dark-blue sea. Then a wide, orange-brown strip emerges from the landscape as the Kunene River carves its way to the sea. The river originates in the highlands of Angola, a thousand kilometres away, and empties into the ocean here on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia.
Six pelicans nervously sidle up to a group of white-breasted cormorants. The wind makes furrows in the sand in front of us. On the opposite bank, the rugged mountains of Angola rest quietly in the sun.
How many times have I looked at this remote spot on a map? And now the water of the Kunene is flowing around my feet.
To reach this place, one of the last true wildernesses on earth, you have to drive dirt roads and cross riverbeds and sand dunes. What an adventure!
DAY 1: 350 km
St Nowhere to Skeleton Coast National Park
There are 18 guests on this tour – a collaboration between Unbounded Namibia and Bhejane 4x4 Adventures. We gathered in the campsite at St Nowhere (what a great name) about 100 km north of Henties Bay yesterday evening. It's now 8.30 am and we're all keen to get out of the cold. Fog shrouds the Atlantic Ocean and an icy wind cuts through my jacket.
The convoy of 11 vehicles lines up behind Phil's Cruiser. Our other guide, Armand van Rensburg, brings up the rear, while Guido Johannsmeier and Hansie Ruben will go ahead to pitch our tents at tonight's camp.
The new Ugab gate to the Skeleton Coast National Park is about 27 km from St Nowhere. We enter the park after taking a group photo.
Our first stop is a collapsed oil drilling rig. In the 1960s, Ben du Preez and colonel Jack Scott convinced several investors that they would find oil on the Skeleton Coast. They came up dry but insisted they'd discovered a rich anthracite deposit instead.
Like many other treasure hunters on this barren coastline, Du
