The Moçâmedes Desert is a

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

located in the deep southwest of

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, near the border with

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The desert forms the northern tip of the

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namib ...

.The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Mocamedes-Desert From the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in the west, the desert gradually rises to a semiarid plain where African ironwood trees grow. Few people live in the desert; communities are found mainly in small fishing towns on the coast. The unique tumboa (Welwitschia mirabilis), a desert plant with a short, wide trunk and two gigantic leaves that can survive for a century, is endemic to the desert. Little water is present in the desert surface.

References

Deserts of Africa {{Angola-geo-stub