The coastal area referred to in this report stretches from the Orange River mouth in the south to Lüderitz Bay in the north, a distance of approximately 155 miles. It Iies within the Namib Desert which here varies in depth between 40 and 50 miles from the coast. It is an extremely inhospitable coast, constantly battered by heavy breakers and when not swept by a strong south-west wind, covered by a wet fog caused by the cold, offshore Benguela current.