The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal
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 ...
in
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...
. The name is of
Khoekhoegowab
The Khoekhoe language (), also known by the ethnic terms Nama (''Namagowab'') , Damara (''ǂNūkhoegowab''), or Nama/Damara and formerly as Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy use o ...
origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
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, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
,
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 ...
, and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the
Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa.
The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as
Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...
. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to inland to the foot of the
Great Escarpment
The Great Escarpment is a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateauAtlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town downward in the directio ...
.
Annual precipitation ranges from in the most arid regions to at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa.
Having endured
arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
or
semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world
and contains some of the world's driest regions, with only western South America's
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the ...
to challenge it for age and aridity benchmarks.
The desert geology consists of
sand sea
An erg (also sand sea or dune sea, or sand sheet if it lacks dunes) is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The word is derived from the Arabic word ''ʿarq'' (), meaning "dune field". St ...
s near the coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The sand dunes, some of which are high and span long, are the second-largest in the world after the
Badain Jaran Desert
The Badain Jaran Desert () is a desert in China which spans the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. It covers an area of . By size it is the third largest desert in China.
This desert is home to some of the tallest stationary dunes o ...
dunes in China.
Temperatures along the coast are stable and generally range between annually, while temperatures further inland are variable—summer daytime temperatures can exceed while nights can be freezing.
Fog
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...
s that originate offshore from the collision of the cold
Benguela Current and warm air from the
Hadley Cell
The Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a global-scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the equator, flowing poleward at a height of 10 to 15 kilometers above the earth's surface, descending in the subtropics, ...
create a fog belt that frequently envelops parts of the desert. Coastal regions can experience more than 180 days of thick fog a year.
While this has proved a major hazard to ships—more than a thousand wrecks litter the
Skeleton Coast
The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San p ...
—it is a vital source of moisture for desert life.
The Namib is almost completely uninhabited by humans except for several small settlements and indigenous pastoral groups, including the
Ovahimba
The Himba (singular: OmuHimba, plural: OvaHimba) are an indigenous people with an estimated population of about 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region (formerly Kaokoland) and on the other side of the Kunene River in southe ...
and
Obatjimba Herero in the north, and the
Topnaar Nama in the central region.
Owing to its antiquity, the Namib may be home to more
endemic species
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
than any other desert in the world.
Most of the desert wildlife is
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
s and other small animals that live on little water, although larger animals inhabit the northern regions. Near the coast, the cold ocean water is rich in fishery resources and supports populations of
brown fur seal
The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal.
Description
The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seal ...
s and shorebirds, which serve as prey for the Skeleton Coast's
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
s.
Further inland, the
Namib-Naukluft National Park
The Namib-Naukluft Park is a national park in western Namibia, situated between the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the edge of the Great Escarpment. It encompasses part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert), the Naukluft mo ...
, the largest game park in Africa, supports populations of
African bush elephant
The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body ...
s,
mountain zebra
The mountain zebra (''Equus zebra'') is a zebra species in the family Equidae, native to southwestern Africa. There are two subspecies, the Cape mountain zebra (''E. z. zebra'') found in South Africa and Hartmann's mountain zebra (''E. z. hartman ...
s, and other large mammals. Although the outer Namib is largely barren of vegetation,
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[succulents
In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...]
are found in coastal areas, while grasses, shrubs, and
ephemeral plant
An ephemeral plant is one marked by short life cycles. The word ephemeral means transitory or quickly fading. In regard to plants, it refers to several distinct growth strategies. The first, spring ephemeral, refers to perennial plants that emerge ...
s thrive near the
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
. Several types of trees are also able to survive the extremely arid climate.
Geography and geology
![Sossusvlei](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Sossusvlei.jpg)
The Namib Desert is one of the 500 distinct
physiographic
Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...
provinces of the South African
Platform
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
physiographic division. It occupies an area of around , stretching from the
Uniab River
The Uniab River is an ephemeral river on Namibia Skeleton Coast, located between Torra Bay and Terrace Bay. Its mouth is in the Grootberg Mountains near Palmwag. Inflows of the Uniab are Kaikams, Kawakab, Aub, Urenindes and Obob. The river ...
(north) to the town of
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.
The town is known for its colonial architecture, includi ...
(south) and 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 ...
(west) to the Namib Escarpment (east). It is about long from north to south and its east–west width varies from . To the north, the desert leads into the
Kaokoveld
The Kaokoveld Desert is a coastal desert of northern Namibia and southern Angola.
Setting
The Kaokoveld Desert occupies a coastal strip covering , from 13° to 21°S and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Namibian savanna woodl ...
; the dividing line between these two regions is roughly at the
latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
of the city of
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...
, and it consists in a narrow strip of land (about 50 km wide) that is the driest place in Southern Africa. To the south, the Namib borders on the
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n
Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...
semi-desert.
Southern Namib (between Lüderitz and the
Kuiseb
The Kuiseb River is an ephemeral river in western-central Namibia. Its source is in the Khomas Highland west of Windhoek. From there it flows westwards through the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Namib desert to Walvis Bay. Several settlement ...
River) comprises a vast dune sea with some of the tallest and most spectacular dunes of the world, ranging in color from pink to vivid orange. In the Sossusvlei area, several dunes exceed in height. The complexity and regularity of dune patterns in its
dune sea
An erg (also sand sea or dune sea, or sand sheet if it lacks dunes) is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The word is derived from the Arabic language, Arabic word ''ʿarq'' (), meaning ...
have attracted the attention of
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
s for decades, but it remains poorly understood.
The source of the unconsolidated sand (the most recent sand sea) has been shown to be dominantly from the Orange River, which drains into the Atlantic south of the Namib Sand Sea, with minor contributions in the east from the (now ephemeral) rivers that drain into the sand sea.
For this reason the Namib Sand Sea has been referred to as the "wind displaced delta of the Orange River."
Moving north from Sossusvlei, the sand gradually gives way to a rocky desert that extends all the way from Sossusvlei to the
Swakop
The Swakop River ( naq, Tsoaxaub) is a major river in western central Namibia. Its river source is in the Khomas Highland. From there it flows westwards through the town of Okahandja, the historic mission station at Gross Barmen, and the set ...
river. This area is traversed by the
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...
and is mostly flat, although some scenic canyons and elevations are found in some areas, for example in the Moon Valley system. While most of the soil is rocky, sand dunes are still occasionally found in this region; for example, sand dunes occupy much of the coastline between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.
The Namib desert is an important location for the mining of
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
,
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
and
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
s.
Several rivers and streams run through the Namib, although all of the rivers south of the
Cunene River
The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It then flows west along the border until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It ...
and north of the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...
are
ephemeral
Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...
and rarely or never reach the ocean.
These rivers arise in the interior mountains of Namibia and flow after summer rain storms.
Climate
![Mondlandschaft Namibia 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Mondlandschaft_Namibia_01.JPG)
The Namib's aridity is caused by the descent of dry air of the
Hadley Cell
The Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a global-scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the equator, flowing poleward at a height of 10 to 15 kilometers above the earth's surface, descending in the subtropics, ...
, cooled by the cold
Benguela current along the coast. It has less than of rain annually and is almost completely barren. Besides rain being scarce, it is also unpredictable. The western Namib gets less rain (5 mm) than the eastern Namib (85 mm). This is due to several factors. Winds coming from the Indian Ocean lose part of their humidity when passing the
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within th ...
mountains, and are essentially dry when they reach the Namib Escarpment at the eastern end of the desert. Winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean, on the other hand, are pressed down by hot air from the east; their humidity thus forms clouds and fog. Morning fogs coming from the ocean and pushing inwards into the desert are a regular phenomenon along the coast, and much of the life cycle of animals and plants in the Namib relies on these fogs as the main source of water.
![Namib desert 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Namib_desert_5.JPG)
The dry climate of the Namib reflects the almost complete lack of bodies of water on the surface. Most rivers flow underground and/or are dry for most of the year. Even when they are not, they usually drain into
endorheic
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
basins, without reaching the sea. The Swakop and the
Omaruru are the only rivers that occasionally drain into the ocean.
All along the coast, but mostly in the northernmost part of it, interaction between the water-laden air coming from the sea via southerly
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
s, some of the strongest of any coastal desert, and the dry air of the desert causes immense
fog
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...
s and strong currents. It causes sailors to lose their way; this is testified by the remnants of a number of
shipwreck
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
s that can be found along the
Skeleton Coast
The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San p ...
, in northern Namib. Some of these wrecked ships can be found as much as inland, as the desert slowly moves westwards into the sea, reclaiming land over a period of many years.
Benguela's El Niño (similar to the Pacific event in its environmental change in the seas) spreads from the Kunene estuary southward to, on occasion, south of Luderitz. Warm waters with depth and associated water flows from the northwest were first fully catalogued by Sea Fisheries researchers, Cape Town (L V Shannon ''et al.''). The research noted the positive effect of Benguela's El Niño on the rainfall of the interior. Rainfall records also show positive values variously across the Namib, Desert Research Station, Gobabeb for instance. This event recurs approximately mid-decade (1974, 1986, 1994, 1995 and 2006 are recent examples).
Plants and animals
Flora
![Welwitschia mirabilis(2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Welwitschia_mirabilis%282%29.jpg)
A number of unusual
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
s and
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s are found in this desert, many of which are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
and highly adapted to the specific climate of the area. One of the most well-known endemic plants of the Namib is the bizarre ''
Welwitschia
''Welwitschia'' is a monotypic gymnosperm genus, comprising solely the distinctive ''Welwitschia mirabilis'', endemic to the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. ''Welwitschia'' is the only living genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and orde ...
mirabilis''; a shrub-like plant, it grows two long strap-shaped leaves continuously throughout its lifetime. These leaves may be several meters long, gnarled and twisted from the desert winds. The
taproot
A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...
of the plant develops into a flat, concave disc in age. ''Welwitschia'' is notable for its survival in the extremely arid conditions in the Namib, mostly deriving moisture from the coastal sea fogs. An area where ''Welwitschias'' are a common sight is found in the surroundings of the Moon Valley, including the eponymous Welwitschia Plains.
File:Quiver trees, Namib Desert.jpg, alt=, Quiver trees found within Namib desert
Fauna
File:Oryx Gazella Namib Desert.jpg, alt=, Gemsboks (''Oryx
''Oryx'' is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the scimitar oryx, which l ...
gazella'') are the biggest antelope
The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia.
Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...
s found in the Namib desert
The Namib fauna mostly comprises
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
s and other small animals that can live on little water, but a few species of bigger animals are also found, including
antelope
The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia.
Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...
s (such as
gemsboks and
springbok
The springbok (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is a medium-sized antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm v ...
s),
ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...
es, and in some areas even
desert elephants. All these species have developed techniques to survive in the Namib environment. A number of endemic
darkling beetle
Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae. The number of species in the Tenebrionidae is estimated at more than 20,000 and the family is cosmopolitan in distribution.
Taxonomy
''Tenebrio'' is the Latin gen ...
s
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
— such as the
Namib Desert beetle
''Stenocara gracilipes'' is a species of beetle that is native to the Namib Desert in southern Africa. This is one of the most arid areas of the world, receiving only of rain per year. The beetle is able to survive by collecting water on its ...
— have bumpy
elytron
An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...
s with a pattern of hydrophilic bumps and hydrophobic troughs. These cause humidity from the morning fogs to condense into droplets, which roll down the beetle's back to its mouth; they are collectively known as "fog beetles". Another beetle, the ''Lepidochora discoidalis'', builds "water-capturing" webs.
Black-backed jackal
The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers.
One region includes the southe ...
s lick humidity from stones. Gemsboks (also known as the South African oryx) can raise the temperature of their bodies to 40 °C in the hottest hours of the day. The desert is also home to
meerkat
MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilom ...
s and several species of lizards.
Human activity
![Sperrgebiet-001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Sperrgebiet-001.jpg)
Before the 20th century, some
San roamed the Namib, gathering edible plants on the shore, hunting in the interior, and drinking the juice of the
tsamma melon for water. Today, some
Herero
Herero may refer to:
* Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today
* Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group)
* Herero and Namaqua Genocide
* Herero chat, a species of b ...
still herd their livestock in the
Kaokoveld
The Kaokoveld Desert is a coastal desert of northern Namibia and southern Angola.
Setting
The Kaokoveld Desert occupies a coastal strip covering , from 13° to 21°S and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Namibian savanna woodl ...
in the Namib and take them from waterhole to waterhole. A few
Nama Khoikhoi
Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also ''Hottentot (racial term), Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 ...
still graze their livestock on the banks of the
Kuiseb River
The Kuiseb River is an ephemeral river in western-central Namibia. Its source is in the Khomas Highland west of Windhoek. From there it flows westwards through the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Namib desert to Walvis Bay. Several settlement ...
in the desert. Most of the native people have left, however, leaving the vast majority of the desert uninhabited.
The steppes in the southern half of the desert are mostly made up of ranches run by Europeans, who raise
Karakul sheep
Karakul or Qaraqul (named after Qorakoʻl, a city in Bukhara Region in Uzbekistan) is a breed of domestic sheep which originated in Central Asia. Some archaeological evidence points to Karakul sheep being raised there continuously since 1400 BC ...
with local help and send the pelts of the lambs to Europe for use in fur coats. Most of the rest of the desert is set aside for conservation. A vast portion of the desert, called the
Sperrgebiet, was access-restricted due to the presence of diamonds, which are mined in the area at the mouth of the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...
. Although the desert is largely unpopulated and inaccessible, there are year-round settlements at
Sesriem, close to the famous
Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei (sometimes written Sossus Vlei) is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name "Sossusvlei" is often used in an exten ...
area, and other small outposts in other locations.
Moçâmedes
Moçâmedes is a city in southwestern Angola, capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000 (2014 census). Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese Angola, Portuguese colonial administration, the city was named Namibe between 198 ...
in Angola, and
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.
The town is known for its colonial architecture, includi ...
,
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...
and
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
in Namibia, bordering on the desert, are the main settlements in the area.
The 2015 film ''
Mad Max: Fury Road'' was filmed here.
In 2019 the Namibian-German artist
Max Siedentopf created an installation in the Namib consisting of a ring of large white blocks atop of which sit six speakers attached to a solar-powered
MP3 player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
configured to continuously play the 1982 song "
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
" by the American band
Toto. The exact location of the installation has not been disclosed.
Namib-Naukluft National Park
![Sossuvlei, Deadvlei (2017)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Sossuvlei%2C_Deadvlei_%282017%29.jpg)
The Namib-Naukluft National Park, that extends over a large part of the Namib Desert, is the largest game reserve in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and one of the largest of the world. While most of the park is hardly accessible, several well-known
visitor attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural b ...
s are found in the desert. The prominent attraction is the famous
Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei (sometimes written Sossus Vlei) is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name "Sossusvlei" is often used in an exten ...
area, where high orange sand dunes surround vivid white salt pans, creating a fascinating landscape.
Access to the park is either by
gravel road
A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the Unit ...
s or dust roads (except for 60 km of
concrete road from the
Sesriem gate to Sossusvlei) or by light aircraft from
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
(the capital of Namibia, about northeast of the centre of the desert), or
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
and
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...
at the north end of the desert.
Notable places
*
Bogenfels
Bogenfels is a location in the coastal Namib Desert of Namibia, noted for its natural rock formations (hence the name, which means "arch rock" in German). The main formation is a high rock arch close to the coast. It is not easily accessible, d ...
*
Sesriem
*
Skeleton Coast
The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San p ...
*
Solitaire
Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself, usually with cards, but also with dominoes. The term "solitaire" is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout tiles, pegs or stones. These game ...
*
Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei (sometimes written Sossus Vlei) is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name "Sossusvlei" is often used in an exten ...
**
Deadvlei
Deadvlei is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia. Also written DeadVlei or Dead Vlei, its name means "dead marsh" (from English ''dead'', and Afrikaans ''vlei'', a lake or ...
**
Dune 45
*
Spitzkoppe
The Spitzkoppe (from German for ''"pointed dome"''; also referred to as Spitzkop, Groot Spitzkop, or the "Matterhorn of Namibia") is a group of bald granite peaks or inselbergs located between Usakos and Swakopmund in the Namib desert of Nam ...
*
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
See also
* ''
Animals Are Beautiful People
''Animals Are Beautiful People'' (also called ''Beautiful People'') is a 1974 South African nature documentary written, produced, directed, filmed and edited by Jamie Uys, about the wildlife in Southern Africa, presented with comedic elements. ...
'', a nature documentary set in the Namib
*
List of deserts by area
This is a list of the largest deserts in the world by area. It includes all deserts above .
Notes
See also
* Desert
* Desertification
* List of deserts by continent
* Polar desert
* Tundra
* United Nations Convention to Combat Deserti ...
References
* ''National Geographic'', January 1992, pp. 54–85.
* Mary Seely: ''The Namib: Natural History of an Ancient Desert'', 3rd ed., Windhoek: Desert Research Foundation of Namibia 2004, .
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
Namib Naukluft Park photo gallery
{{Authority control
Deserts of Namibia
Deserts of South Africa
Afrotropical ecoregions
Ergs of Africa
Physiographic provinces
World Heritage Sites in Namibia
Namib-Naukluft National Park
First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites