To the west is 1280km of some of the most desolate and lonely coastline in the world. Along its entire length, the vast shifting sand dunes of the Namib Desert spread inland for 80 to 130km. In the interior, the escarpment of a north–south plateau slopes away to the east and north into the vast interior sand basin of the Kalahari, a huge and sparsely vegetated savannah that sprawls across the border into neighbouring countries. In the far northwest, the 66 000 sq km of the Kaokoland mountains run along the coast, while further inland lies the Etosha Pan, a dried-out salt lake surrounded by grasslands and bush which support an abundance of various kinds of wildlife. The Etosha National Park & Game Reserve is one of the finest in Africa, in that it remains, to a large extent, free of human influence.
To survive the harsh landscape, its wildlife and plants have evolved some of the strangest and most profound adaptations imaginable.
The Kunene Valley is home to the Himba, one of the last true nomadic tribes on earth, the unique desert-adapted elephant and black rhino and the bizarre welwitschia plant. Astonishing contrasts are everywhere for the traveller to savour, enjoy and photograph. The country also has some of the most interesting geological formations on earth.
An ex-German colony with its colonial past still much in evidence, Namibia has become a safari destination famed for its remote and intimate lodges.
Flying safari over the Skeleton Coast
Hot air ballooning over the Sossusvlei sand dunes
Exploring the wild expanses of Damaraland and the Kaokoveld
Desert-adapted wildlife and plants
The Himba people in the Kunene Valley
Namibia can be visited year-round
November to March is very hot
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