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The Namib Desert

The Namib Desert is one of the oldest and largest in the world, and it is protected by the Namib Naukluft Park. The desert spreads beyond the borders of Namibia and flows into southwest Angola. Namib is a word from the Nama language that means vast. People refer to the Namib Desert as the oldest desert. Namibia gets its name from the Namib, so it should come as no shock to you, when you find out that almost the entire country is comprised of the Namib.The Namib is surrounded by fascinating wildlife and flora. Animals and plants have adapted to the inhospitable living conditions of the Namib in unique ways. When visiting the Namib Desert you will experience a feeling of stillness and quiet desert solitude. It is the sand dunes of the Sossusvlei that attracts most of the attention.

Activities and Accommodation

Their quite a lot of activities one can do at the desert, by light aircraft from Walvis Bay or Swakopmund, balloon ride over the beautiful sand dunes. You can enjoy the beautiful changing colors of the scenery with an early morning rise. The Namib provides a lot of accommodation. Below are just a few of the lodges you can choose from. The Little Kulala lodge. which is a luxary lodge with a guided tour to the sand dunes. Little Sossus lodge thatbis quite cheap and affordable. The Sossusvlei lodge which can be found next to the Sesriem Campsite. Kulala Wilderness Camp that is an up-market tented lodge, on the same private reserve as Kulala Desert Lodge. Then there's also the Namib Desert Lodge that is fairly far from the dunes,and it offers a variety of activities and thus recommends a stay of 2 to 3 full days.

Fauna and Flora

Vegetation and wildlife are seemingly scarce in any desert and the Namib desert is one of Namibia's harshest enviroment. Vegetation grows in the southern Namib that is characterised by winter rainfall aand succulent plants. The central Namib, this area is confined by the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the escarpment to the east. The central Namib provides a number of habitats for plants, notably expansive gravel and gypsum plains, rocky outcrops and dry river courses with associated drainage lines. The northern Namib that is a very dry place with low and unpredictable ranges and amounts of rainfall varying from zero to over 100mm. There's a number of unusual species of plants and animals that are found only in the desert. One of these is Welwitschia mirabilis, one of the most unusual species. The Welwitschia is a shrub-like plant, but grows just two long strap-shaped leaves continuously throughout its lifetime.

Use the morning hours for an easy climb to the top of one of the adjacent granite hills or a walk in the vicinity. Explore the diverse flora and fauna, where the trees grow seemingly out of stones.