Physical Features of Namibia

The Namib, the most ancient desert in the world, acts as a barrier between the central highlands and the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Namibia’s long coastline is set against a backdrop of vast sand dunes, gravel deserts, wild seascapes and shipwrecks. The gravel dunes and sand flats once submerged below sea level are rich picking grounds for multinational diamond miners. Salt flats and even freshwater lagoons at various places along the coast are home to thousands of flamingos, pelicans and other waders and water birds. 

The magnificent Fish River Canyon and the eastern edge of the Namib Desert stretch north from the Orange River in the south and represent an area of stark beauty. The canyon is next in size to The Grand Canyon in North America, which makes it the worlds second largest. This southern and central interior region is a vast open expanse of grasslands and desert vegetation interspersed by stark mountains and isolated oasis where the presence of mainly subterranean water allows for cultivation of various crops. Moving further west towards the Botswana border the landscape changes into the vast sea of red sand and thorn trees of the Kalahari Desert that reaches far east across the entire land of Botswana. Here is another superb wilderness area of solitude and vast open wetlands teaming with wildlife and sparse human populations.