Namib

The Namib is a desert right by the ocean.

It is in the south of Africa. It almost never rains there. Huge orange and red sand dunes stretch for miles. In the morning, fog rolls in from the sea.

The Namib stretches about 1,900 kilometers along the Atlantic coast of southern Africa, from Angola through Namibia to South Africa, and reaches 130 to 160 kilometers inland. Its name comes from the Nama language and suggests an area where there is nothing, Britannica says.

But the Namib is full of surprises. In its southern half lies a vast sea of sand, yellow-gray near the coast and brick red farther inland, with dunes up to about 240 meters high. UNESCO calls the Namib Sand Sea the only coastal desert in the world with huge dune fields influenced by fog, and made it a World Heritage Site in 2013.

Britannica describes the Namib as a cool coastal desert running about 1,900 km from Namibe (formerly Moçâmedes) in Angola across Namibia to the Olifants River in South Africa's Western Cape, and 130 to 160 km inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment; its southern part merges with the Kalahari on the plateau above. The name derives from Nama and implies 'an area where there is nothing'.

Three north-south strips grade into each other: a narrow, marine-dominated coastal strip; the Outer Namib, the rest of the western half; and the Inner Namib to the east. The desert rests on a smooth platform of truncated bedrock, mostly mica-schist, other metamorphics and granite, rising to about 900 m at the escarpment. UNESCO's 2013 inscription covers the Namib Sand Sea, 30,777 km² wholly within Namibia's Namib-Naukluft Park (49,768 km²), as the world's only coastal desert with extensive fog-influenced dune fields.

Many Namib animals and plants drink water from the fog.

Some tiny animals dive into the sand to stay safe. Gemsbok and springbok live on the plains. Seals and flamingos live by the sea.

UNESCO says fog is the main source of water in the Namib Sand Sea, and many animals found nowhere else, mostly invertebrates (small animals without backbones), collect it in extraordinary ways. Loose, airy sand gives some animals a place to swim and dive under the surface, to rest and to escape.

Britannica describes a strange Namib plant, the welwitschia, which grows just two giant leaves that sprawl across the ground. Gemsbok, springbok, ostriches and some zebras live on the inland plains and dunes, and elephants, rhinoceroses and lions live in the north along the rivers. The shore is busy with flamingos, pelicans, penguins in the south, and seal colonies.

UNESCO's criteria stress that fog is the primary water source and is harvested in extraordinary ways by a largely invertebrate endemic fauna, while well-oxygenated subsurface sand offers refuge to 'swimming' and 'diving' invertebrates, reptiles and mammals. Shifting sand, variable winds and fog gradients create an ever-changing mosaic of microhabitats.

Britannica recognizes six vegetation regions: succulent coastal vegetation using fog moisture; the almost barren Outer Namib; Inner Namib steppes, grassy only in wet years; a surprisingly rich bush and tall-grass flora on the Inner Namib dunes; large trees, especially acacias, along river channels; and succulent bush in the southern winter-rainfall area. The welwitschia (Welwitschia mirabilis) sprawls two gigantic leaves from a huge root crown. Gemsbok, springbok, ostriches and zebras use the Inner Namib; elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, hyenas and jackals follow northern rivers; Outer Namib dunes hold beetles, geckos and snakes but virtually no mammals; the shore supports flamingos, pelicans, penguins and seals.

Very few people live in the Namib.

Some families still herd goats and sheep along the rivers. A few towns sit by the sea. Much of the desert is a park where nature is protected.

Very few people live in the Namib. Britannica says a small number of Herero families still herd cattle and goats from water hole to water hole in the north, and Topnaar Nama families graze sheep and goats along the Kuiseb River. Long ago, San people gathered food along the shore and hunted inland.

Four cities sit on the coast, including Swakopmund and the port of Walvis Bay. Water for these towns is pumped from under the sandy bed of the Kuiseb River. Much of the central and northern Namib is now protected, in parks such as the Namib-Naukluft Park, which contains the Namib Sand Sea, and the Skeleton Coast National Park.

Britannica notes that a few San used the Namib until the early 20th century, foraging along the shore, hunting inland and drawing water from tsama melons; a small number of Herero still herd cattle and goats in the desert Kaokoveld, and a few Topnaar Nama graze stock along the Kuiseb. Water for Walvis Bay and Swakopmund is drawn from the Kuiseb's underflow 40 km inland, and a 130 km pipeline supplies Lüderitz from the Koichab.

The coast has four cities: Swakopmund, a resort affected by a large uranium mine 40 km inland; Walvis Bay, Namibia's major port, transferred from South Africa in 1994; Lüderitz; and Oranjemund, a diamond-mining town. The Sperrgebiet, from the Kuiseb to the Orange, was long closed for possible diamonds. UNESCO notes the Sand Sea has been under conservation management for more than 50 years, with no permanent visitor infrastructure inside the property.