The Namib's most important feature of all is the life-giving, cold Benguela Current.
The great diversity and richness of the Namib Desert revolves around the plancton-rich waters of this ocean current which peels off the mighty West Wind Drift in the cold Southern Ocean.
The Benguela Current flows northwards along the south-western coastline of Africa, causing deep cold water to be pushed onto the shallower coastal shelf in a process called upwelling.
As this nutrient-rich waters enters the light zone near the surface it supports unbelievably large populations of minute organisms known collectively as phytoplankton, which serve as bountiful grazing grounds for a host of zooplankton species.
This combination of minerals, including phosphorus, and energy-producing sunlight supports these pastures and their predators, which in their turn sustain vast shoals of pelagic fish.
These form the principal prey of huge flocks of Cape gannets, Cape cormorants and jackass penguins. Also not to be left out of the equation are the fish-eating Cape fur seals, cetaceans and predatory fish species.
But what really concerns us here is another feature of this cold, productive oceanic current ....... fog.
Rainfall in the Namib, as is to be expected in a true desert, is minimal and rarely exceeds 100 mm each year.
It is more likely to be close to 15 mm, particularly along the coastal plain.
The cold Benguela Current, already fully established some five million years before present, is influenced by the South Atlantic Anticyclone pressure system.
Cool water flows close inshore, ensuring the frequent development of fog and maintaining high coastal humidity levels and the steep climatic gradient from the coast to the interior.
Great, rolling banks of fog push their way inland from the coast during the darkness of night, not infrequently penetrating more than 50 kilometers from the coast, and reaching their greatest density at altitude of 300 metres to 600 metres.
The inselbergs, hill ranges and in particular the sand dunes act as fog traps, and it is within these zones that the greatest species diversity is evident.
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Stretching more than 2.000 kilometers along the south-west African Atlantic Ocean coastline, from San Nicolau in Angola, southwards to the estuary of the Olifants River in South Africa, lies what is reputed to be the world's oldest desert, the Namib.
It is believed to have see-sawed between an arid and semi-arid state for at least 80 million years, but there where times when there where more rivers and surface waters.
Not all of the landscape features that we see today, however, are of a venerable age.
They have been modified and changed greatly over the ages by the forces of water, wind, heating and cooling.
The Namib Desert forms a narrow ribbon along the coastal plain, rarely more than 200 kilometers wide and bounded in the west by the cold oceanic waters and in the east by the escarpment known as the Khomas Hochland.
The Namib can be divided into a number of distinct units for convenience of description: the vast sand dune oceans, extensive gravel and calcrete plains, hill ranges and massive granitic inselbergs, seasonally flowing rivers, perennial rivers in the north and south, and the coastal plain.
Apart from the Orange River which forms part of the international border between Namibia and South Africa, and the Kunene in the north, separating western Angola and Namibia, all of the others rivers flow only after good rains have fallen in the highlands.
A few of these rivers, such as the Kuiseb and Swakop, flow more frequently than others, and in the case of the former this plays a crucial role in preventing the mighty longitudinal sand dunes from relentlessly marching north-wards.
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Many of these rivers have names that evoke something of the mystery of this desert: Hoarusib, Hoanib, Uniab, Huab, Ugab and Orawab.
These river courses allow many non-desert adapted creatures and plants to penetrate what would otherwise be a totally hostile environment for them.
If we take one of these rivers, the Kuiseb, as an example, we find around it a great spectrum of both desert-adapted species, as well as those that would perish without this lifeline.
This river also prevents the southern sands spilling northwards.
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Mamili National Park is Namibia's version of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, a paradisiacal area of waterly channels, beautiful wetlands and reed islands.
This Park can rightly claim to be the jewel of the Caprivi Region.
For this Mamili perhaps stands alone when compared to all other Protected Areas in the country.
It not only forms the largest wetland area with conservation status in Namibia .... it is wild, it is untrammelled, and nature is at its scintillating best !! ..... but moreover it can be inundated with extreme water levels.
Mamili National Park is located on the Nkasa and Lupala islands on the Kwando and Linyanti rivers in south-western corner of East Caprivi.
During the dry season the islands can be reached by road, but after rains the area becomes flooded, cutting them off from the mainland.
Vegetation is dominated by species associated with floodplains and termitaria. Floodplains provide ideal protection for swamp and floodplainmammals such as buffalo, wild dog, red lechwe, sitatunga ......
It is habitat to elephant, lion, crocodile and hippo.
Mamili National Park is also known for its birds population.
But it is difficult to reach this remote and beautiful place ...... only visitors with 4x4 can use the roads.
Accomodation is limited to undeveloped wilderness campsites.
The wild horses of the Namib Desert are steeped in mystery as to how they came to roam the hostile desert plains.
One theory states that they are the descendants of South African Army and German Schutztruppe horses left behind during the First World War, others believe that they stem from the horse stud kept at Duwisib Castle owned by Baron Hans-Heinrich von Wolf.
After his death, the horses were abandoned to their fate in the harsh desert.
The third theory offer a wild explanation; a ship thought to carry Thorougbreds ran aground off the Atlantic coastline.
The ones that survived the treacherous swim through the frigid waters could have survived by reaching the Garub Pan, located 20 kilometers west of Aus.
Whatever their story may be, the wild horses have established themselves and claimed a rightful place in the Namib Naukluft Park.
Surviving extreme weather and sparse grazing, the horses have adapted admirably to their environment.
A permanent watering trough was erected for the horses at Garub in order to ease their survival during extreme periods of drought.
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The Kaokoveld is one of the areas in Namibia which is still largely wild and untouched.
The region lies on the northwestern part of Namibia and up to the Kunene River which form a natural border between Angola and Namibia.
The Kaokoveld is rough but stunningly beautiful. The area is covered with Mopani trees, rugged plains and colorful scenes that constantly change.
Into this wonderland, the Himba nomadic tribe still roams freely; a traditional, pastoral people, relying upon herds of drought-resistant cattle for their livelihood.
Their villages are situated by springs that gush out from dry riverbeds.
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Organ Pipes are a fascinating geological formation located near Twyfelfontein.
Strikingly rich rusty colors are portrayed in long columns resembling those of a church organ, some rising up 5 meters high.
Thought to be the result of the Gondwanaland breakup, fractures and cracks were formed as the dolomite columns cooled through the process of columnar jointing approximately 120 million years ago.
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Just a short walk from the Organ Pipes is a small inselberg called the "Burnt Mountain", declared a National Monument of Namibia on September 1956.
The reason for its name is best evident in the early mornings and late evenings, when the rays of the sun seem to set the mountain ablaze.
Rich red colors mixed with shades of black and purple are quite strikingly caused by manganese coated clay molecules.
During the day, however, the inselberg is just a normal black color as if the morning fire has burnt it to ashes.
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The Brandberg is the highest mountain in Namibia and a National Monument.
The geological history of Brandberg is just as interesting as the thousands of rock art paintings and engravings on the mountain and its surroundings.
The Brandberg itself is not a volcano but is a granite plug which was pressed out of the volcano's pipe and stopped at about 10.000 meters under the surface.
That is why the granite of the Brandberg is younger than the Dolorite which lies around the Brandberg.
The Brandberg is an isolated massif and it is composed of a single mass of granite that rose through the Earth's crust some 120 million years ago.
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It is better known for its rock paintings and carvings, of which the "White Lady" is the best famous.
This painting, located in the Tsisab Ravine, is about 2.ooo years old and can be reached after about 1,5 hours walk. The "White Lady" was presumably painted by San people, and discovered by Dr. Reinhard Maack in January 1918. He described the painting as follows:
" It is the most detailed rock painting I have ever seen !"
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The Namib's most important feature of all is the life-giving, cold Benguela Current.
