Skeleton Coast

Information & Discussions on Namibia Game Parks
User avatar
Expat
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:18 am
Country: UK
Location: England
Contact:

Skeleton Coast

Post by Expat »

Hi Guys, long time since we last met on the forum!! 0/* We are off the Namibia again in April and once again would like some info. We are staying at Terrace Bay for a couple of nights and would like to know if it is possible to access the Hoanib Riverbed in a 2x4 and if we are allowed that far north. Can't find a clear answer so hope you can help. Last time at Terrace Bay was in the early 1980's. Only 147 sleeps to go ! <sun> We are having lots of <drip> at the moment.


User avatar
Flutterby
Posts: 44150
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:28 pm
Country: South Africa
Location: Gauteng, South Africa
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Flutterby »

Hi Expat! 0/* Hope someone has an answer for you!! \O


User avatar
Expat
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:18 am
Country: UK
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Expat »

Thanks, Flutterby! I certainly hope so. :-( With only 146 sleeps to go, time is getting short lol


User avatar
Flutterby
Posts: 44150
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:28 pm
Country: South Africa
Location: Gauteng, South Africa
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Flutterby »

Yes, you'd better hurry up with all your plans!! lol


User avatar
Lisbeth
Site Admin
Posts: 67241
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:31 pm
Country: Switzerland
Location: Lugano
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Lisbeth »

Expat 0/*

You might find something here (if you have not already looked) https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewforum.php?f=98

Here there is something about Hoanib River Valley https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
User avatar
Lisbeth
Site Admin
Posts: 67241
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:31 pm
Country: Switzerland
Location: Lugano
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Lisbeth »

Beach lions again hunting seals and coastal birds in Namibia, after 35 years

Posted on 29 January, 2019 by Africa Geographic Editorial in Destinations, Namibia, Research, Wildlife and the Decoding Science post series.

Image
Lioness with a Cape fur seal © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

Research by respected scientist P.E. Stander reveals that the desert-adapted lions eking out a living on the harsh northwest coast of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast National Park (SCNP) are again specialising in hunting seals and coastal birds such as flamingos and cormorants, after an absence of 35 years. They have also been seen feeding on brown hyenas and beached pilot whale carcasses.

Image
The study area in the northwest of Namibia that includes the Skeleton Coast National Park, several tourism concessions and communal conservancies © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

Lions disappeared from this hostile, remote coast during the 1980s due to intense human-lion conflict, but since 2002 have gradually re-colonised the area after a successful community-based conservancy model was implemented, and the growth of tourism in the area.

Image
A lioness on the lookout for prey along the coastline © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

These lions have only recently, after a period of 35 years, again started to utilise the rich marine resources, with as much as 79% of their diet in the past 18 months consisting of seals and birds.

Image
The number of recorded prey species killed and the estimated biomass consumed by the Hoanib Floodplain pride in the Skeleton Coast National Park, between May 2017 and November 2018 © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

The last SCNP lions were killed off by 1990, shot or poisoned by livestock farmers on the fringes of this narrow national park. Then, in 1997, a group of 20 desert-adapted lions was discovered in the mountainous eastern edge of the Namib Desert.

Image
Lionesses feeding on Cape fur seal © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

Image
Left: The home range area and movements of the Uniab/Obab pride in relation to the coastal habitat at the Uniab Delta (blue area) between January and November 2015; Right: The home range area and movements of the Hoanib Floodplain pride in relation to the coastal habitat around the mouth of the Hoanib River (yellow area) between August 2014 and November 2015; © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

The population has since gradually recovered, thanks to periods of good rains, a growing Namibian tourism industry and a successful program to generate benefits for local communities from the tourism industry, although it is still beset with issues relating to human-wildlife conflict and trophy hunting.

Image
The home range sizes, the proportion of coastal habitat in each home range and the duration of monitoring of five lion prides in northwest Namibia © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

During the poor 2017 rainfall period, lions living inland of the coastal area started visiting the coastal area to utilise the marine resources.

Three young lionesses, orphaned at the age of less than one year when their mother died of natural causes, found their way across the dunes to an island in a fresh-water spring on the coast, and survived by hunting cormorants, flamingos and teals. They then moved on to scavenging off seal carcasses, and then to hunting and killing juvenile and then adult seals.

Please download this report and invest your time in reading it. Keep the passion

Image
Hunting cormorants at Hoanib Lagoon © PE Stander / Desert Lion Conservation

Stander, P. (2019). Lions (Panthera leo) specialising on a marine diet in the Skeleton Coast Park, Namibia. Namibian Journal Of Environment, 3, Section A, 1-10. Retrieved from https://www.nje.org.na/index.php/nje/ar ... e3-stander


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
User avatar
Flutterby
Posts: 44150
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:28 pm
Country: South Africa
Location: Gauteng, South Africa
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Flutterby »

^Q^ ^Q^


User avatar
Richprins
Committee Member
Posts: 75838
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: NELSPRUIT
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Richprins »

Excellent story! O/\ O/\ O/\


Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
User avatar
Dindingwe
Posts: 830
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:13 pm
Country: Bolivia
Location: La Paz
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Dindingwe »

I knew Jackals and Brown Hyenas were hunting seals, but not Lions ! Very interesting.

Here is one picture of a Seal colony and one of a Jackal grabbing the rest of dead young Seal.

IMG_7023-1.jpg
IMG_7029-1.jpg


User avatar
Flutterby
Posts: 44150
Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:28 pm
Country: South Africa
Location: Gauteng, South Africa
Contact:

Re: Skeleton Coast

Post by Flutterby »

Nice sighting Dindingwe! \O


Post Reply

Return to “All you need to know about Namibia Game Parks”