It stretches some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. The Namib (/ˈnæmiːb/; Portuguese: Namibe) is a coastal desert in southern Africa. An area where Welwitschias are a common sight is found in the surroundings of the Moon Valley, including the eponymous Welwitschia Plains. Turkestan Freezing temperatures occur occasionally along the inner edge of the desert. Namib is located in southern Africa and is known for its cold temperature. The Namib Desert region has a surprisingly wide array of life for being one of the oldest and driest places on Earth. The Namib Desert Beetle originated in the dry desert of Southern Africa.With such a small percentage of rain per year (1.4cm), this beetle survives by collecting water on its back that has small ridges on it. [3] Owing to its antiquity, the Namib may be home to more endemic species than any other desert in the world. [5] Fogs that originate offshore from 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. Parts of the Namib rival South Americaâs Atacama Desert as the driest place on Earth. El desierto del Namib es un importante desierto de África que se extiende a lo largo de la costa de Namibia, entre el río Orange, que marca la frontera con la República de Sudáfrica, al sur, y el río Kunene, entre Namibia y Angola, al norte. Mica-schist and other metamorphics and granite and similar intrusives predominate. The exact location of the installation has not been disclosed.[10][11]. What is the largest desert in the world? 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. Its width varies from 50 to 200 kilometers (30 to 125 miles). Ideal for groups, families or individual travellers, there is space for all. 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 the Skeleton Coast's lions. Date of stay: August 2018 Trip type: Traveled as a couple. The Namib Desert could only develop after cold water produced in the Southern Ocean since the Early Oligocene was able to penetrate northwards. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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 the escarpment. It reaches inland 80 to 100 miles (130 to 160 km) to the foot of the Great Escarpment. It is the only desert on earth which reaches the ocean. What little life there is clings to the boundaries of where the land meets the sea and a few rocky outcrops. The desert geology consists of sand seas near the coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The Namib Desert is a cold desert or cool coastal desert, depending on the classification system. The Namib Desert is a coastal desert primarily locatedin Namibia, Africa, and is one of the largest coastal deserts in the world, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The dunes of the Outer Namib provide habitats for various types of insects and reptiles, especially beetles, geckos, and snakes, but virtually no mammals. Characterised by red sand dunes that can reach impressive heights, the Namib is considered to be particularly old, even by geological standards. This strange plant can live for over 2000 years, and it only grows two leaves during its entire life. The northern third—the Kaokoveld region—consists of gravel plains and rock platforms occurring between scattered rugged mountains, interspersed with a few large dune fields. The Sechura Desert is a coastal desert located south of the Piura Region of Peru along the Pacific Ocean coast and inland to the foothills of the Andes Mountains. In the extreme south, some winter precipitation occurs from frontal storms passing farther south over the Cape region; on rare occasions, snow may fall on the higher southern mountains. September & October â It is still dry and sunny. km), the Namib is a coastal desert, situated along the south-western coast of the African continent. Soils that do occur are often highly saline, impregnated with gypsum, or cemented firmly by calcium carbonate, the latter forming a calcrete layer just below the surface. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. [1] Annual precipitation ranges from 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in the most arid regions to 200 millimetres (7.9 in) at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Being an almost rainless area, the Namib has a poorly developed and fragmentary drainage pattern. The world's last continent is subject to international treaties that no single country can claim it. Temperatures can reach as high as 60°C during the day and below 0°C at night; some areas receive less than 10mm of rain each year. Besides rain being scarce, it is also hardly predictable. Welwitschia is notable for its survival in the extremely arid conditions in the Namib, mostly deriving moisture from the coastal sea fogs. The Namib Desert is one of the most spectacular desert landscapes in the world and what better way to explore it than from the back of a horse. The desert is formed mainly due to the cold Benguella current that flows up out of the Arctic, along the Namibian coastline and out into the Atlantic Ocean. 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. Yet most developed nations have scientific settlements on the cold, dry and mostly inhospitable land (38). Scattered isolated mountains rise steeply and abruptly above the platform, and in the northern half several streams have carved deep steep-walled gorges into it. The Namib Desert is located in the southwestern part of Africa and runs for over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, which makes it a true coastal desert. Other areas are covered with shifting sand. Before 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. 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 South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants Riverin Western Cape, South Africa. A trip to Namibia is only complete with a sojourn in the Namib Desert. The Namib Desert runs along the southwestern coast of Africa from the country of Angola, through Namibia, ending in South Africa. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}24°45′07″S 15°16′35″E / 24.75194°S 15.27639°E / -24.75194; 15.27639, Approximate boundaries of the Namib Desert, "Chapter 17: Namib Sand Sea: Large Dunes in an Ancient Desert", "Africa by Toto to play on eternal loop 'down in Africa, "Toto forever: Africa to play 'for all eternity' in Namib desert", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Namib&oldid=1000782756, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Portuguese-language text, Articles containing Khoekhoe-language text, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 16 January 2021, at 18:09. Its extreme aridity is caused by the upwelling of cold coastal waters and subtropical atmospheric subsidence, but it is also subject to occasional flooding during El Niño years. 5. Early mornings are less cold⦠The name Namib is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". Temperatures may rise above 40°C in summer, sometimes even up to 50°C. Gemsboks (also known as oryxes) can raise the temperature of their bodies to 40 °C in the hottest hours of the day. A few days each year, usually in fall or spring, berg (mountain) winds blowing from the east bring high temperatures (above 100 °F), together with dry air and clouds of dust, across the desert to the coast itself. The extreme southern coastal area consists of wind-scoured bedrock and a few rapidly moving crescent-shaped barchans (i.e., dunes convex to the wind). 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. One fascinating example is that of the plant Welwitschia. The interesting fact about it is that many shipwrecks can be found up to 50 meters inland ascribed to the movement of the desert. Benguela's El Niño (similar to the Pacific event in its environmental change in the seas) spreads from the Kunene estuary southward to, on occasion, south of Luderitz. 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 a period of many years. Stretching over 1200mi (2000km), the Namib crosses Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The name Namib is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". Along the inland margins, summer temperatures normally reach the upper 80s F (low 30s C). [5] Further inland, the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game park in Africa, supports populations of African bush elephants, mountain zebras, and other large mammals. Some of the biggest dunes are found in deserts such as Badain Jaran Desert in the Gobi Desert in China (approximately 500 m), the Sossuvlei Dunes, Namib Desert (380 m), and the Great Sand Dunes National Park Preserve in Colorado, USA (230 m). 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 South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. It causes sailors to lose their way; this is testified by the remnants of a number of shipwrecks that can be found along the Skeleton Coast, in northern Namib. Corrections? Along the coast, on the Bassin dâArcachon, France, is ⦠They have long, thin legs, and bumpy outer wings. Most of the native people have left, however, leaving the vast majority of the desert uninhabited.[9]. Southern Namib (between Lüderitz and the Kuiseb River) comprises a vast dune sea with some of the tallest and most spectacular dunes of the world, ranging in color from pink to vivid orange. Moçâmedes in Angola, and Lüderitz, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund in Namibia, bordering on the desert, are the main settlements in the area. Namib Desert - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Namib Desert - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Explore the diverse landscapes and wildlife of the Namib Desert, Namibia, Observe the web-footed gecko, or palmatogecko collecting dew drops on its lidless eyes to survive in the scorching heat of the Namib desert, Africa. mi (81,000 sq. The name has been derived from the world Nama which means âthere is nothingâ. While most of the park is hardly accessible, several well-known visitor attractions are found in the desert. Omissions? The plains and the dunes of the Inner Namib support large numbers of several varieties of antelope, especially gemsbok (oryx) and springbok, as well as ostriches and some zebras. A portion of the water of major streams seeps through the sands of the streambeds. The Namib is divided into three successive north–south-trending strips: the very narrow coastal region along the Atlantic, strongly subject to marine influences; the Outer Namib, occupying the rest of the western half of the desert; and the Inner Namib, constituting the eastern portion. Six vegetational regions are found in the Namib: (1) the coastal region, with highly succulent vegetation, which uses moisture derived from the fog, (2) the almost completely barren Outer Namib, (3) the steppes of the Inner Namib, which in many years are barren but which in wet years are covered with short grasses, both annual and perennial, (4) the dunes of the Inner Namib, which produce a surprisingly rich flora of bushes and tall grasses, (5) the larger river channels, along which large trees, particularly acacias, grow, and (6) the southern winter rainfall area, where a succulent bush growth occurs. The Namib Desert dune ant's legs are about five millimeters long. Several types of trees are also able to survive the extremely arid climate.[5]. The cold water of the Benguela sea current on Namib coasts hit the desert's hot and dry air producing vast, soggy, low level clouds. This is due to several factors. Enjoy the quiet at Namib Desert Lodge away from the bustle around Sesriem, 60km away. A few Nama Khoikhoi still graze their livestock on the banks of the Kuiseb River in the desert. The shore area is densely populated by marine birds—notably flamingos, pelicans, and, in the southern part, penguins—as well as a few jackals, some rodents, and a few colonies of seals. As it were an ocean of golden sand does the Namib cover a large part of Namibia. Many of the species that live here are endemic, found nowhere else. Warm waters with depth and associated water flows from the northwest were first fully catalogued by Sea Fisheries researchers, Cape Town (L V Shannon et al.). Some of the world's tallest sand dunes (over 300m) are found in the Namib Desert. Some parts ⦠Coastal regions can experience more than 180 days of thick fog a year. A vast portion of the desert, called the Sperrgebiet, was access-restricted due to the presence of diamonds, which are mined in the area at the mouth of the Orange River. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [1] 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. Existing for at least 55 million years, the Namib is one of the oldest deserts in the world. Interesting fact about the Namib Desert The Famous Namib Desert Beetle. Annual precipitation here ranges from 0.079 in to 7.9 in. The 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road filmed there. A pipeline 80 miles (130 km) long supplies the town of Lüderitz with water from the seepage of the Koichab, a stream that terminates in the dunes. The Namib Desert is one of the 500 distinct physiographic provinces of the South African Platform physiographic division. Several rivers and streams run through the Namib, although all of the rivers south of the Cunene River and north of the Orange River are ephemeral and rarely or never reach the ocean. 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. The desert is also home to meerkats and several species of lizards. The convergence of the Benguela upwelling and the hot interior have maintained, and perhaps increased this aridity in recent times, but they did not generate the aridity. 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 wool of the lambs to Europe for use in fur coats. These leaves may be several meters long, gnarled and twisted from the desert winds. The complexity and regularity of dune patterns in its dune sea have attracted the attention of geologists for decades, but it remains poorly understood. In the desert areas, the Namib and the Kalahari, only little rainfall can be expected, with the Kalahari receiveng higher rainfalls than the Namib. [1][3][4] Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world[1][4] 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. [1][2][3] The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends 450 kilometres (280 mi) from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. The southern portion merges with the Kalahari on the plateau atop the escarpment. It reaches inland 80 to 100 miles (130 to 160 km) to the foot of the Great Escarpment. Its name is derived from the Nama language, implying “an area where there is nothing.”. It occupies an area of around 80,950 km2[6] (31,200 square miles), stretching from the Uniab River (north) to the town of Lüderitz (south) and from the Atlantic Ocean (west) to the Namib Escarpment (east). Located along south-western Africaâs Atlantic coast, the Namib Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Only the Cunene (Kunene) and Orange rivers flow permanently on the surface. Arable soils in the Namib are limited to floodplains and the terraces of major rivers and are subject to occasional inundation. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Today, some Herero still herd their livestock in the Kaokoveld in the Namib and take them from waterhole to waterhole.
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