Page 287 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

An old, stocked photo of the Toscanini seal colony (photo MFMR) An old, stocked photo of the stone cross at Cape Cross (photo)
MFMR)
Cape Cross deposited on Pelican Point over the years. After 1915 it had
Coordinates: 21.77 S; 13.95 E a beacon to guide ships safely into Walvis Bay Harbour.
Description: Cape Cross is a sandy cape on a rocky bay In the early 1990s, fewer than 10 pups were born at
with sandy beaches that is located in Dorob National Park Pelican Point, but production increased to over 1,600 pups
(DNP). Its colony is the largest fur seal colony on the Afri- in 2006 and to more than 40,000 pups in 2018 (Table 1).
can coast and has been in existence for longer than all oth- Conservation status: Pelican Point is a protected area
er mainland colonies in Namibia. Cape Cross was named falling under DNP.
after a cross that was erected there in 1486 by Portuguese Harvesting status: No harvesting has taken place at the
navigator Diego Cao as a mark of his journey (Economics colony.
at Large 2011). The original cross has been replaced by a Ecotourism: Walvis Bay is the most protected natural har-
replica and Cape Cross was listed as a National Heritage bour along the Namibian coast and is a primary site for
site. Marine Wildlife Watching Tourism (MWWT). In 2014, about
Conservation status: The colony falls within DNP and has 23 motorised boats (ski boats and sailing catamarans)
been protected as a Seal Reserve since 1968. It is admin- participated in MWWT, mostly between 08:30 and 13:00
istered by the Namibian government under its MEFT. (Leeney et al. 2014). Attractions included viewing of
Harvesting status: The earliest seal harvest at Cape feeding by Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus),
Cross was in 1924 (David and Van Sittert 2008). Commer- visiting the seal colony and watching marine cetaceans
cial harvesting at the colony is ongoing. Details of some such as Common Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and
early harvests are given below. Heaviside’s (Cephalorhynchus heavisidii) Dolphins
(Golaski 2015, Elwen et al. 2019, Martin et al. 2020).
Year No. harvested Additionally, in the austral summer (January–March)
1973 7,353 tourists may view Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae)
1974 6,339 and Southern Right (Eubalaena australis) Whales, or during
summer Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) and
1975 9,543 ocean sunfish (Mola mola) (Leeney 2014, Rosenbaum
1976 11,095 and Collins 2006, Elwen et al. 2014, 2019). Other
activities include kayaking around Pelican Point, which
Shaughnessy (1978)
provides ample opportunity to observe the seal colony as
well as dolphins, seabirds and frequent aggregations of
Ecotourism: The Cape Cross colony is a major, land- flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber, Phoeniconaias minor)
based, seal-watching location in Namibia that has attract- (Leeney 2014).
ed numerous visitors over many years. A 200 m, enclosed
walkway constructed from recycled plastics allows visitors Sandwich Harbour
to walk around the landward side of the colony and observe Coordinates: 23.35 S; 14.47 E
its seals. Many seals lie in the shade under the walkway or Description: A sandy beach at a large, shallow lagoon
against its frame and thus visitors are afforded close con- which is in the Namib Naukluft National Park (NNNP) about
tact. 57 km south of Walvis Bay. The area is bordered by high
sand dunes of the Namib Desert on the east and by the
Pelican Point cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The harbour
Coordinates: 22.87 S; 14.44 E is now abandoned but formerly was preferred to and better
Description: Pelican Point (German Pelikan-Punkt) is a developed than Walvis Bay as a harbour. It hosted vari-
peninsula made of sea sand not far from the port of Walvis ous enterprises from fish processing, shark-oil extraction
Bay on the Atlantic coast of Namibia. It is bordered on one to sealing and guano collection. In the late 1800s, it also
side by the Walvis Bay Lagoon and on the other by the At- supported an abattoir where cattle that had been driven
lantic Ocean. This narrow strip of sand, which extends into through the dunes were slaughtered for export. The har-
the sea in a northerly direction for about nine km, protects bour was abandoned in the early 1900s due to poor infra-
the lagoon from the Atlantic Ocean. As a result of sea cur- structures at the site, as well as growing inaccessibility to it
rents, wind and periodic floods of the Kuiseb River, which that resulted from changing dunes and tidal action. All that
enters the lagoon, vast amounts of sand and soil have been remains of the harbour is a hut that was constructed in the

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