The Uniab River is an ephemeral river on

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 ...

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 peo ...

, located between Torra Bay and

Terrace Bay Terrace Bay is a township in Thunder Bay District in northern Ontario, Canada, located on the north shore of Lake Superior east of Thunder Bay along Highway 17. The name originates from a series of lake terraces formed as the water level in L ...

. Its mouth is in the Grootberg Mountains near

Palmwag Palmwag is a tourism concession on communal land in northern Namibia. It is located in the Kunene region, in northwestern Damaraland, halfway between Swakopmund and the Etosha National Park. It covers an area of 400,000 hectares and has population ...

. Inflows of the Uniab are Kaikams, Kawakab,

Aub Aub () is a city in the district of Würzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated southeast of Würzburg, and northwest of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and, nearby the border of Baden-Württemberg. The river Gollach is the main body of water. A ...

, Urenindes and Obob. The river once created a large

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

with five main watercourses. Today it continues to flow only in one of the watercourses, but subterranean water surfaces as springs in the other channels. Uniab's

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

(including its tributaries) is estimated to be between 3961 and . These springs are lifeline to the

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 ...

and

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 ...

roaming this desolate stretch of coast and also attract a variety of birds. The river trickles over a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

into a narrow gorge through bright reddish-pink sandstone and yellow calcrete formations. The Uniab is a temporary river and is best known possibly as desert-adopted

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

country. There is a large animal presence in and around the river including

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

, lion, leopard,

black rhino The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania ...

and giraffe. The river is a

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

attraction owing to its scenic vistas, such as the air view from the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, and the wildlife. The Palmwag Lodge sits on the dry banks of the river and is one of Namibia's oldest tourist destinations.

References

External links

Namibia Travel Guide

Skeleton Coast

Palmwag Lodge
Rivers of Namibia Geography of Kunene Region {{Namibia-river-stub