l33g0's video: Abandoned IDECO Oil Drilling Rig in Namib Desert Skeleton Coast National Park Namibia

A taste of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast and the end of the world - our Ford Ranger had an interesting stop at this mad-max, post-apocalyptic type of scene in the Namib Desert. This is an abandoned IDECO land oil drilling rig that was operational in the late '60s and early 70’s. Its hostile and isolated location is just south of Toscanini mining site and 42 km (26 mi) north of the Ugabmund Gate entrance of the Skeleton Coast National park. The oil rig was erected by hopeful entrepreneurs and prospectors Ben du Preez and Jack Scott in the late '60s long before the National Park was proclaimed. They were sure there was oiil but when they reached a depth of 1.700 meters (5.600 ft) they realized there is none. The oil rig was abandoned in 1972. The Skeleton Coast did not want man drilling for riches here.  Today, the abandoned rig is one of the most popular wrecks, even not being a ship, in the Skeleton Coast National Park. The collapsed rig provides a nesting area for birds during the breeding season. Nesting Cape Cormorants and White-breasted Cormorants used to be nesting in the rusted remains of the oil rig, at least back in the '90s, but the birds may have been scared off by the visitors' disturbance. The rusty oilfield rig is glorious in scrap metal destruction. At the center of the rig there is the main power unit, a V16 Caterpillar engine. The salt of the sea and harsh conditions have eaten so much of the metals of the rig that it requires extreme caution to climb around.  The Skeleton Coast is the northern part and the 500 km (310 km) stretch of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River. It accounts for about one-third of Namibia's coastline. Sometimes the name Skeleton Coast is used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The Skeleton Coast gets its eerie name not only from the huge number of bleached white whale and seal skeletons that litter the beaches here, dating back to when the whaling industry was active, but also from the many shipwrecks that have happened on the treacherous rocks over the centuries since the early Portuguese and Dutch explorers attempted to find a route around Africa to India. It is estimated that over a thousand vessels were washed up on the coastline, making this the largest ship graveyard in the world. The Portuguese sailors used to refer to the Skeleton Coast as the 'Gates of Hell', and the local San people or Bushmen still call it 'The Land God Made in Anger'.