Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia

The Namib-Naukluft National Park, is the largest national park in the Republic of Namibia, and includes part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert) and the Naukluft mountain range.

With an overall area of 49,768 km², the Namib-Naukluft is the largest game park in Africa, and the fourth largest in the world.

The highest dunes in the world in the Sossusvlei area of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia

The best known section of the park, is the Sossusvlei region in the Namib Desert (with the highest dunes in the world), which is one of the main visitor attraction in Namibia and on most Namibian travel itineraries.

More about the Sossusvlei region:

The Namib desert is not just dunes, but has canyons and grass savannah areas also.

This desert-arid region of the Namib Desert, support a very diverse selection of creatures, ranging from mammals to plants and insects, such as Gemsbok (Oryx), Springbok, Mountain and Plain Zebra, baboons, foxes, jackals, cheetah and leopard.

With a very low rainfall (average 106 millimetres per year, mostly in the months of February to April). The cold humid south-western winds from over the Atlantic Ocean, bring moisture in as a fog. This fog keep the whole desert ecology alive, and play an important role in the survival of all species.

The winds that bring in the life sustaining fog, are also responsible for creating the park’s spectacular towering sand dunes in shades of soft reddish orange.

The colour of the dunes come from the iron oxide that binds with the silica sand grains. Analyzing the sand grains gives an composition of around 85% silica, and the other 15% consists of materials such as granite, feldspar, dolomite and garnet.

With some dunes reaching more than 300 meters (almost 1000 feet) high, these are the highest dunes in the world.

The word ‘Namib’ means open space, and the Namib Desert given birth to the name for the Republic of Namibia – “land of open spaces”, or "Land of the Brave".

The park was first established in 1907, when the German Colonial Administration proclaimed the area between the Swakop River and the Kuiseb River a game reserve. The park's present boundaries were established in 1978, by the merging of the Namib Desert Park, the Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park , parts of Diamond Area 1, and smaller parts of surrounding government land into the current park.