NAMIB

Portuguese Namibe, cool coastal desert along the Atlantic coast of southwestern Africa, extending 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from the city of Namibe in Angola southward through Namibia to the Olifants River in Cape province, South Africa. The Namib reaches inland 80 to 100 miles (130160 km) to the foot of the Great Escarpment of southern Africa. The desert is basically a relatively smooth platform of truncated bedrock of various types and ages. Scattered, isolated mountains rise steeply and abruptly above the platform, and in the northern half, streams have carved deep, steep-walled gorges. In much of the desert's southern half, the platform is surmounted by a vast expanse of sand. Dunes are arrayed in lines, and individual dunes reach 1020 miles (1632 km) long and 200800 feet (60240 m) high. The troughs between them are interrupted by smaller, transverse dunes. The coast is almost entirely rainless, yet moisture is present in the form of nighttime dew or fog, which is produced by the cold offshore Benguela Current. Rains occur only a few days each year in spring or fall, usually as short-lived torrential thunderstorms. On rare occasions, snow falls on the higher southern mountains and freezing temperatures are recorded along the inner edge of the desert. Owing to the lack of precipitation, the Namib has a poorly developed and fragmentary drainage pattern. In the desert's northern half, the larger streams reach the sea, but, between the Kuiseb and the Orange rivers, every stream terminates in a vlei (salt pan or mud flat) against or among the dunes. Large areas of the Namib are completely soilless, with bedrock at the surface; arable soils are limited to the floodplains and terraces of major rivers. The vegetable cover is varied and includes an unusual plant, the tumboa (Welwitschia mirabilis), whose two huge leaves sprawl over the ground from the crest of its huge crown. Animal life varies with the vegetational regions. Generally, antelope, ostrich, and zebra live on the plains and dunes of the Inner Namib, insects and reptiles on the barren Outer Namib, and large flocks of marine birds and a few jackals along the coast. The principal human inhabitants of the Namib include a few hundred Ovahimba and Ovatjimba Herero, who herd cattle and goats between waterholes in the northern region, and a few Topnaar Nama (Khoikhoi), who graze sheep and cattle along the Kuiseb River in the central Namib. The desert is crossed by rail lines that link the ports of Lderitz and Walvis Bay with cities in South Africa. Physical features of southern Africa. Portuguese Namibe, a cool coastal desert extending for 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometres) along the Atlantic coast from Namibe (formerly Momedes) in Angola southward across Namibia to the Olifants River in the Cape Province of South Africa. It reaches inland 80 to 100 miles to the foot of the Great Escarpment. The southern portion merges with the Kalahari on the plateau atop the escarpment. Its name is derived from the Nama language, implying an area where there is nothing. The Namib is arid and is almost totally uninhabited, except for several towns. It is important because of the trade routes that cross it, its mineral deposits, the fisheries of the bordering sea, and its increasing utilization for recreational purposes. Additional reading Early descriptions of the Namib include Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami (1856), an account of a four-year exploration; and Heinrich Vedder, South West Africa in Early Times (1938, reissued 1966; originally published in German, 1934), a detailed history of the region to 1890. Richard F. Logan, The Central Namib Desert, South West Africa (1960), thoroughly studies the area's physical and biological geography. B.J. Huntley (ed.), The Kuiseb Environment: The Development of a Monitoring Baseline (1985), contains a set of excellent articles covering all phases of the environment of a transdesert river valley. Richard F. Logan Study and exploration Cursory exploratory voyages were made along the coast from the 15th to 17th century, Walvis (Whale Fish) Bay was used as a base for New England whaling ships in the early 19th century, and there were direct routes for traders and missionaries from Lderitz and Walvis Bay into the interior. Otherwise, little was known of the Namib until the latter part of the 19th century. After South West Africa was established as a territory of Germany in the early 1890s, the German military began the detailed exploration and mapping of the desert. Richard F. Logan The people and the economy A few San roamed the Namib until early in the 20th century, gathering whatever was edible along the shore, hunting in the Inner Namib, and often depending for water upon the bitter juices of the tsama (tsamma) melon. A small number of Herero tribespeople continue to herd cattle and goats from waterhole to waterhole in the desert part of the Kaokoveld, living in their traditional manner. A few Topnaar Nama Khoikhoi also graze their sheep and goats on the riverine vegetation along the Kuiseb River. A great part of the Namib is now totally unused and unoccupied, the aboriginal people having left to adopt new homes and new ways of life. A few areas, however, are productive in some way. The innermost steppes in the southern half of the desert are divided into private farms (ranches), which are operated by Europeans using native labour and are devoted to the raising of Karakul sheep; the wavy-haired pelts of newborn lambs of these sheep are used for fur coats in Europe. Much of the central and northern Namib has been set aside for recreation and conservation. The Namib Desert Park in the central area is a desert range for flocks of antelope, zebra, and ostrich. A strip about 130 miles in length along the coast northwest of Swakopmund constitutes the National West Coast Tourist Area; within it is the Cape Cross Seal Reserve, which protects a breeding area. Farther north is the Skeleton Coast National Park, where entry is restricted in order to preserve the fragile desert environment. A vast area stretching from the Kuiseb River to the Orange River on the South African border and reaching inland some 80 miles constitutes the Sperrgebiet, or Forbidden Zone, to which all entry is strictly restricted because of the possible presence of diamonds there. Diamonds are extracted from alluvial beds near the coast by large-scale equipment, chiefly in the area near the mouth of the Orange River. There are four cities on the Namib coast. Swakopmund, the summer capital for Namibia and a popular coastal resort town, still retains much of the atmosphere from the days when South West Africa was a German colony. From mid-December to mid-February many functions of the government are transferred from Windhoek to Swakopmund to escape the heat of the interior. Swakopmund has been greatly changed by the development of a large uranium mine located some 25 miles inland. Walvis Bay, just to the south of Swakopmund, is a coastal enclave formerly belonging to South Africa that was transferred to Namibia in 1994. It is a modern port city with a mixed population of Europeans, Coloureds, and Africansthe Africans consisting partly of Nama families from south-central Namibia but largely of male Ovambo from Angola and the northern part of Namibia who have found employment at the port. The port serves as a base for fishing fleets that supply both shore canneries and cannery ships on the open sea. It is also the major transhipment port for Namibia. Lderitz, a small town on a shallow, rock-strewn harbour, has a small trade with Walvis Bay and Cape Town and is the base of a crayfish (lobster) industry. Oranjemund, a company town of the Consolidated Diamond Mines, is a base for large-scale diamond mining in the alluvial gravels along the southern coast. The Namib is crossed by rail lines and tarred roads, both from Walvis Bay-Swakopmund and from Lderitz, which are integrated with the internal rail and road systems of Namibia and South Africa. Except for roads from Swakopmund north for about 130 miles, between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, and from Lderitz to Oranjemund, no improved roads exist along the coast, in the Kaokoveld to the northwest, or in the area between Walvis Bay and Lderitz.