Visitors to the Cape Cross Seal Reserve are first hit by the intense heat of the desert and then, as they move closer to the seals, the cold, off-shore winds. This is the nature of Namibia's coastline - wild and raw - much the same today as it was in 1486 when the Portuguese explorer, Diego Cão, planted a padrão, or stone cross, into the sand, establishing Portugal's claim to the territory.