Sandwich Harbour

Sandwich Harbour ( _pt. Porto d'Ilheo) is a port on the Atlantic coast of Namibia, lying south of Walvis Bay, within the Namib-Naukluft National Park. Formerly a moderately-sized commercial port based around whaling and small-scale fishing, it declined as the harbour silted up, and is now best known for its birdlife.Although called Sandwich Harbour it was never a harbour or even a port. It is a shallow lagoon lying about 80 km South of Walvis Bay.The area was surveyed in the 1880's by the Royal Navy but it was considered very inferior to Walvis Bay and no development took place. Occasional sealing vessels used it as an anchorage, possibly to avoid the authorities at Walvis Bay, and there were some temporary settlements used by seasonal fishermen catching snoek (Thyrsites atun).In the 1930's an ambitious project was started to build a guano island in the lagoon using sand pumps imported from Holland. Unfortunately jackals could cross to the island at low tides and chased the birds away. All that remains of the project is the manager's house.The marine fauna was surveyed by the South African Museum and the State Museum of Namibia. It was found that the fauna was totally marine.Almost every journalist or documentary maker who has written or filmed the area has incorectly stated that the lagoon is fresh water. There is some very poor quality brack water that seeps under the dunes and this allows large reed beds at the water's edge.