The Kaokoveld Desert is a coastal desert of northern

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 southern

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

Setting

The Kaokoveld Desert occupies a coastal strip covering , from 13° to 21°S and is bounded by 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 ...

to the west, the Namibian savanna woodlands to the east, and 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, Nami ...

to the south. It includes the

Moçâmedes Desert The Moçâmedes Desert is a desert located in the deep southwest of Angola, near the border with Namibia. The desert forms the northern tip of the Namib Desert.The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Mocamedes-Deser ...

of southern Angola. The Kaokoveld is a harsh desert of drifting sandunes and rocky mountains. It receives most of its rainfall during the summer, which distinguishes it from the adjacent Namib Desert to the south, which receives most of its rain during the winter. The

Kunene 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 ...

is the only permanent watercourse but many dry riverbeds (including the

Hoanib The Hoanib is one of the 12 ephemeral seasonal rivers in the west of Namibia, where it was the border between northern Damaraland and Kaokoland. Its length is 270 km. With the low population density, the oasis character of the river valley ...

, Hoarusib and Khumib Rivers) carry moisture through the desert and are home to animals including elephants, black rhinos, and giraffe. Other than those the area is ancient desert sand, moistened by occasional coastal fog.

Flora

The Kaokoveld is home to '' Welwitschia mirabilis'', a plant that has no close living relatives.

Fauna

The Kaokoveld is home to a number of endemic reptiles while large mammals including desert elephants (''Loxodonta africana''), black rhinos ('' Diceros bicornis'') and giraffes ('' Giraffa camelopardalis'') visit the riverbeds. There is a great deal of birdlife including the endemic Cinderella waxbill ('' Glaucestrilda thomensis'') on the Kunene River.

Threats and preservation

Skeleton Coast National Park runs for 500 km along the coast of Namibia and is the main protected area in the region, along with other smaller conservancies inland. Much of the area was formerly protected under Game Reserve 2, which was reduced in size to become

Etosha National Park Etosha National Park is a national park in northwestern Namibia and one of the largest national parks in Africa. It was proclaimed a game reserve in March 1907 in Ordinance 88 by the Governor of German South West Africa, Friedrich von Lindequist ...

in 1967, with a subsequent increase in poaching and more recently uncontrolled off-road driving. There is an area of sand dunes in Iona National Park in Angola.

References

External links

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Kaokoveld Minerals (Erongominerals.com)
{{Coord, 17.5, S, 12, E, source:wikidata, display=title Afrotropical ecoregions Deserts and xeric shrublands Ecoregions of Angola Ecoregions of Namibia