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55-877: From its foundation by the Portuguese in 1840 and until 1985, the area was known as Moçâmedes (also spelled "Mossâmedes"). The current name of the province is derived from the Namib Desert , lying predominantly in Namibia; the northernmost part, however, extended into the province of Namibe. Extensive flooding in the province occurred on April 5, 2001, with the Bero and Giraul River severely affecting roads and people in Namibe, Huila and Benguela provinces. A reported 20 people in Namibe Province lost their lives during

110-631: A mantle plume under southern Gondwana caused bulging of the continental crust in the area that would later become southern Africa. Within 10–20 million years, rift valleys formed on either side of the central bulge and flooded to become the proto-Atlantic Ocean and proto-Indian Ocean more or less along the present southern African coastline and separating the Southern Cape from the Falkland Plateau . The stepped, steep walls of these rift valleys formed escarpments that surrounded

165-688: A common sight include the eponymous Welwitschia Plains, which are adjacent to the Husab uranium mine , one of the largest of its kind in the world. " Fairy circles ", which are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 22 and 12 metres (7 and 39 ft) in diameter and often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass, are found in the Namib, such as those near the Wolwedans desert camp. The Namib fauna mostly comprises arthropods and other small animals that can live on little water, but

220-524: A few species of bigger animals are also found, including antelopes (such as gemsboks and springboks ), common ostriches , and in some areas even desert elephants or lions . All these species have developed techniques to survive in the Namib environment. Several endemic darkling beetles species have different methods of collecting water droplets from morning fog; they are collectively known as "fog beetles". For example, one beetle, Onymacris unguicularis , has smooth elytrons that cause humidity from

275-649: A large part of the Namib Desert, is the largest game reserve in Africa and one of the largest in the world. While most of the park is hardly accessible, several well-known visitor attractions are found in the desert. The prominent attraction is the Sossusvlei area, where high orange sand dunes surround vivid white salt pans, creating a fascinating landscape. Access to the park is either by gravel roads or dust roads (except for 60 km of concrete road from

330-422: A population of 495,326 according to the 2014 census. The desert is sparsely inhabited, but is inhabited by Herero groups (vaKuval, Ova-Himba) and small Khoisan groups (Kwisi, Kwepe). Agriculture is the main source of income in Namibe Province, the principal crops being citrus fruits , olives , guava , millet , and livestock, including the rearing of sheep and goats. Fishing is another means of livelihood for

385-436: 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 of the plant develops into a flat, concave disc in age. Welwitschia is notable for its survival in the extremely arid Namib conditions, made possible by its ability to capture moisture from coastal sea fogs. Areas where Welwitschias are

440-626: A very high and rugged appearance, combining steep-sided blocks and pinnacles. The KwaZulu-Natal – Free State Drakensberg escarpment is composed of softer rocks and therefore has a more rounded, softer appearance from below. Generally, the top of the Escarpment is almost table-top flat and smooth, even in Lesotho . The "Lesotho Mountains" are formed away from the Drakensberg escarpment by erosion gulleys that turn into deep valleys that contain

495-809: Is a coastal desert in Southern Africa . According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola , Namibia , and northwest South Africa , 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 450 kilometres (280 mi) from

550-668: Is also unpredictable. Western Namib gets less rain (5 mm) than 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 mountains, and are essentially dry when they reach the Namib Escarpment at the eastern end of the desert. On the other hand, winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean are pressed down by hot air from

605-753: Is the combination of this escarpment and the aridity of Southern Africa that leads to the lack of navigable rivers in South Africa. Different names are applied to different stretches of the Great Escarpment, the most well-known section being the Drakensberg (diagram on the right). The Schwarzrand and edge of the Khomas Highland in Namibia , as well as the Serra da Chela in Angola, are also well-known names. About 180 million years ago,

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660-581: The Andes Mountains in South America are being formed today. The Cape Fold Mountains have been re-exposed by erosion of the coastal plain below the Great Escarpment (see "Geological origin", above), after having been covered by sediments originating from an even higher and more extensive range of mountains, comparable to the Himalayas , that developed during the assembly of Gondwana to

715-535: The Orange River are ephemeral and rarely or never reach the ocean. These rivers arise in the interior mountains of Namibia and flow after summer rain storms. The Namib's aridity is caused by the descent of dry air of the Hadley cell , cooled by the cold Benguela Current along the coast. It has less than 10 mm (0.39 in) of rain annually and is almost completely barren. Besides rain being scarce, it

770-623: The Ovahimba 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 than any other desert in the world. Most of the desert wildlife is arthropods 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 seals and shorebirds, which serve as prey for

825-493: The Sesriem gate to Sossusvlei) or by light aircraft from Windhoek (the capital of Namibia, about 480 km or 300 mi northeast of the centre of the desert), or Swakopmund and Walvis Bay at the north end of the desert. Great Escarpment, Southern Africa The Great Escarpment is a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateau downward in

880-578: The Uniab River (north) to the town of Lüderitz (south) and from the Atlantic Ocean (west) to the Namib Escarpment (east). It is about 1,600 km (1,000 mi) long from north to south and its east–west width varies from 50 to 160 kilometres (30 to 100 miles). To the north, the desert leads into the Kaokoveld ; the dividing line between these two regions is roughly at the latitude of

935-559: The escarpment . Several types of trees are also able to survive the extremely arid climate. The name Namib is of Khoekhoegowab (or Nama language) origin, and has been variously reported to mean "vast place" and "an area where there is nothing". The Namib Desert is one of the 500 distinct physiographic provinces of the South African Platform physiographic division. It occupies an area of around 80,950 square kilometres (31,250 sq mi), stretching from

990-495: 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 still herd their livestock in the Kaokoveld in the Namib and take them from waterhole to waterhole. A few Nama Khoikhoi still graze their livestock on the banks of the Kuiseb River in the desert. Most of the native people have left, leaving

1045-585: The 22° S parallel, and from there veers west to Mokopane , where it is known as the Strydpoort Mountains. The absence of the Great Escarpment for approximately 450 km (280 mi) to the north of Tzaneen (to reappear on the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the Chimanimani Mountains ) is due to a failed westerly branch of the main rift that caused Antarctica to start drifting away from southern Africa during

1100-550: The Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert , while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert . From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to 200 kilometres (120 mi) inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment . Annual precipitation ranges from 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in the aridest regions to 200 millimetres (7.9 in) at

1155-518: The Burke's, Vanrhyns, Bloukrans , Gannaga, Ouberg , Verlatekloof, Teekloof, Molteno , Goliatskraal, Daggaboersnek , Katberg , Nico Malan , and Barkly passes. Nevertheless, the escarpment to the south and west of the plateau lacks the grandeur of the Mpumalaga and Lesotho Drakensberg, on the one hand, and the extremely rugged, intricately-folded, ranges of Cape Fold Mountains that run parallel to

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1210-817: The Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, none of the plateau's surface rocks (except the Kalahari sands) are younger than 180 million years. The youngest rocks that remain cap the plateau in Lesotho and form the steep sides of the Great Escarpment in this region. These are the Clarens Formation laid down under desert conditions about 200 million years ago, topped by a 1,600 m (5,200 ft) thick layer of lava that erupted and covered most of southern Africa, and indeed large parts of Gondwana, approximately 180 million years ago. Erosional retreat means that

1265-538: 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 , salt , and diamonds . Several rivers and streams run through the Namib, although all of the rivers south of the Cunene River and north of

1320-518: The N1 highway between Beaufort West , below the escarpment, and just beyond Three Sisters on the way to Richmond or Victoria West , on the plateau; and also where the Orange River has eroded a broad valley through the escarpment in the west before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean ). Along most of its extent, however, it forms a 400–800 m high mountain-like ridge that roads into the interior have to negotiate, sometimes up steep winding passes, such as

1375-419: The Namib, Desert Research Station, and Gobabeb for instance. This event recurs approximately mid-decade (recent examples are 1974, 1986, 1994, 1995, and 2006). Several unusual species of plants and animals are found in this desert, many of which are endemic 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 mirabilis ;

1430-618: 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 flow from the northwest were first fully catalogued by Sea Fisheries researchers, in 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

1485-552: The Skeleton Coast's lions . Further inland, the Namib-Naukluft National Park supports population of mountain zebras , and other large mammals. Further north near the Skeleton Coast, lions , elephants and rhinos can be found. Although the outer Namib is largely barren of vegetation, lichens and succulents are found in coastal areas, while grasses, shrubs, and ephemeral plants thrive near

1540-609: The Sossusvlei area, several dunes exceed 300 meters (1,000 feet) in height. The complexity and regularity of dune patterns in its dune sea have attracted the attention of geologists for decades, but it remains poorly understood. The source of the unconsolidated sand (the most recent sand sea) is dominantly from the Orange River, which drains into the Atlantic south of the Namib Sand Sea, with minor contributions in

1595-411: The area at the mouth of the Orange River . Although the desert is largely unpopulated and inaccessible, there are year-round settlements at Sesriem , close to the Sossusvlei area, and other small outposts in other locations. Moçâmedes in Angola, and Lüderitz , Walvis Bay , and Swakopmund in Namibia, bordering on the desert, are the main settlements in the area. The 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road

1650-673: The breakup of Gondwana about 150 million years ago. The lower Limpopo River and Save River drain into the Indian Ocean through what remains of this relict incipient rift valley, which now forms part of the South African Lowveld. The eastern portion of the Great Escarpment within the borders of South Africa (see the accompanying map, above) is referred to as the Drakensberg (meaning "Dragon Mountains"). The Limpopo , Mpumalanga and Lesotho Drakensberg have hard erosion-resistant upper surfaces and therefore have

1705-602: The city of Walvis Bay , 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 the South African Karoo semi-desert. Southern Namib (between Lüderitz and the Kuiseb River) comprises a vast dune sea with some of the tallest and most spectacular dunes in the world, ranging in color from pink to vivid orange. In

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1760-405: The coast on the seaward side of the Great Escarpment. (The parallel ranges of mountains, to the south of the escarpment, can clearly be seen on the accompanying satellite image of South Africa , especially when compared to the diagram on the left, which shows the course of the Great Escarpment.) The fold mountains were formed about 330 million years ago, and therefore pre-date the formation of

1815-682: The coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The sand dunes, some of which are 300 metres (980 ft) high and span 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, are the second-largest in the world after the Badain Jaran Desert dunes in China. Temperatures along the coast are stable and generally range between 9–20 °C (48–68 °F) annually, while temperatures further inland are variable—summer daytime temperatures can exceed 45 °C (113 °F) while nights can be freezing. Fogs that originate offshore from

1870-566: The collision of the cold Benguela Current and warm air from the Hadley cell 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 —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

1925-409: The desert causes immense fogs and strong currents. It causes sailors to lose their way; this is testified by the remnants of several shipwrecks that can be found along the Skeleton Coast , in northern Namib. Some of these wrecked ships can be found as much as 50 metres (55 yards) inland, as the desert slowly moves westwards into the sea, reclaiming land over many years. Benguela's El Niño (similar to

1980-538: The direction of the oceans that surround southern Africa on three sides. While it lies predominantly within the borders of South Africa , in the east the escarpment extends northward to form the border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe , continuing on beyond the Zambezi river valley to form the Muchinga Escarpment in eastern Zambia. In the west, it extends northward into Namibia and Angola . It

2035-571: 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 from Sossusvlei to the Swakop river. This area is traversed by the Tropic of Capricorn and is mostly flat, although some scenic canyons and elevations are found in some areas, for example in

2090-428: 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. The dry climate of Namib reflects the almost complete lack of bodies of water on the surface. Most rivers flow underground and/or are dry for most of

2145-499: The elevation of the edge of the eastern escarpments is in excess of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It reaches its highest point of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) where the escarpment forms part of the international border between Lesotho and the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal . With the widening of the Atlantic, Indian, and Southern oceans, southern Africa became tectonically quiescent. Earthquakes rarely occur in

2200-534: The escarpment by nearly 200 million years. The two events are geologically unrelated to one another. They also represent two very different geological processes: the Great Escarpment resulted from rifting, and the tearing apart of the Gondwana super-continent, whereas the Cape Fold Mountains resulted from the collision of tectonic plates , during the assembly of Gondwana, in the same way that

2255-406: The escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid 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 to challenge it for age and aridity benchmarks. The desert geology consists of sand seas near

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2310-482: The flood. Namibe Province covers an area of 57,091 km, much of which is desert. The capital of the province is the city of Moçâmedes , with the second city being Tômbua or Tómbwa (formerly Porto Alexandre). In the Namib Desert can be seen the rare Welwitschia mirabilis , "a strange plant with a giant root", and also the Iona National Park . Lake Arco , a fresh-water oasis, is a stunning sight in

2365-611: The less resistant overlying sediments were removed, ultimately to form the parallel formations that protrude from the coastal plain of the south and southwest Cape. In the main, the rocks of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands belong to the Beaufort and Ecca Groups (of the Karoo Supergroup ), aged 220–310 million years. The eastern portion of the Great Escarpment goes as far north as Tzaneen at approximately

2420-574: The middle of the desert. Near the coast of the Bentiaba desert and in Iona National Park, Late Cretaceous fossils of sharks , turtles , mosasaurs , plesiosaurs and sauropods have been discovered. The province of Namibe consists of five municipalities ( Portuguese : municípios ): The province of Namibe contains the following communes ( Portuguese : comunas ); sorted by their respective municipalities: Namibe Province had

2475-495: The morning fogs to condense into droplets, which roll down the beetle's back to its mouth. Another beetle, the Lepidochora discoidalis , builds "water-capturing" webs. Black-backed jackals 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 meerkats and several species of lizards. Before

2530-403: The newly formed Southern African subcontinent. During the past 20 million years, southern Africa has experienced further massive uplifting, especially in the east, with the result that most of the plateau lies above 1,000 m (3,300 ft) despite extensive erosion. The plateau is tilted such that it is highest in the east and slopes gently downward toward the west and south. Typically,

2585-734: The people of Namibe Province, Tômbua being the main market. The province has significant reserves of gold , copper , manganese , chromium , tin , lignite and marble . The Yuri Gagarin Airport and the Commercial Port of Moçâmedes, are the two main centres for transport for the import and export of products. From 1976 to 1991, the official name was Provincial Commissioner. 15°11′43″S 12°09′03″E  /  15.19528°S 12.15083°E  / -15.19528; 12.15083 Namib Desert The Namib ( / ˈ n ɑː m ɪ b / NAH -mib ; Portuguese : Namibe )

2640-399: The region, and there has been no volcanic or orogenic activity for approximately 50 million years. An almost uninterrupted period of erosion continues to the present, removing layers many kilometers thick from the surface of the plateau and moving the present position of the escarpment approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) inland from the original fault lines that formed the walls of

2695-510: The rift valley along the coastline during the break-up of Gondwana. Consequently, a thick layer of marine sediment was deposited onto the continental shelf (the lower steps of the original rift valley walls) that surrounds the subcontinent, creating the present-day coastal plain. The rate of the erosion of the escarpment in the Drakensberg region is said to average 1.5 m (5 ft) per 1000 years, or 1.5 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 16  in) per year. Because of erosion throughout most of

2750-789: The rocks exposed on the coastal plain are, with very few and small exceptions, older than those that cap the escarpment. The rocks found in the Lowveld below the Mpumalanga portion of the Great Escarpment are more than 3 billion years old. As the escarpment retreated inland, the Cape Fold Mountains that had formed 150 million years earlier and been buried under sediments from the Himalaya -sized range of Gondwana mountains were gradually re-exposed. Being composed of erosion-resistant quartzitic sandstone , they remained as

2805-399: The sills are thinner or absent then, like the portion of the Drakensberg between KwaZulu-Natal – Free State , the escarpment is composed of softer rocks, aged between 250 and 300 million years old. This means that in these regions the scarp has a more rounded appearance, or has eroded away to such an extent that the scarp may no longer be evident (for instance along the route taken by

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2860-480: The tributaries that flow into the Orange River . There are so many of these tributaries that it gives the Lesotho Highlands a very rugged mountainous appearance, both from the ground and from the air. Along the southern extent of the central plateau some of the thicker, hard, erosion-resistant dolerite sills form large parts of the upper edge of the escarpment (see illustration on the right), but where

2915-499: 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 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

2970-463: The year. Even when they are not, they usually drain into endorheic 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, the interaction between the water-laden air coming from the sea via southerly winds , some of the strongest of any coastal desert, and the dry air of

3025-550: 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 configured to continuously play the 1982 song " Africa " by the American band Toto . The exact location of the installation has not been disclosed. The Namib-Naukluft National Park, which extends over

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