Namib Desert

In the Nama language, Namib means vast, an understatement when you're confronted with the endless orange dunes of the parched Namib desert.

The Namib is one of the oldest and largest deserts in the world and is protected by the Namib-Naukluft Park - a 50 000km² wonderland of shifting sands and colourful dunes.

A trip to this area is a remarkably surreal experience. Some travellers are simply too unnerved by how empty, arid and lonely the Namib landscape is. Others revel in its strangeness and the feelings of stillness and quiet desert solitude that it evokes.

The scenery may out-of-this world but local wildlife and flora are just as fascinating. Animals, insects and plants have adapted to live in this generally inhospitable region in unique and strangely beautiful ways.

One of the best ways to appreciate the magnificence of this area is by light aircraft on a scenic flight from Walvis Bay or Swakopmund or a balloon ride over the dunes.

There are some wonderful books on the Namib desert area, best bought in Swakopmund.

Places of interest

Blown into razor sharp ridges by the sand-shifting winds, the famous Sossusvlei sand dunes are the highest in the world, towering some 300 metres into the air, and just begging to be climbed barefoot.

Other places of interest within the Namib Desert Area include Solitaire and the Sesriem Canyon.

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