Namib-Naukluft

National Park

(Nambia)

Nambia

Established: August 1, 1979

19,216 sq mi

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namib-Naukluft_National_Park

The Namib-Naukluft Park is a national park of Namibia encompassing part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert) and the Naukluft mountain range. With an overall area of 49,768 km2 (19,216 sq mi), the Namib-Naukluft is the largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world.[1] The most well-known area of the park is Sossusvlei, which is the main visitor attraction in Namibia.

A surprising collection of creatures survives in the hyper-arid region, including snakes, geckos, unusual insects, hyenas, gemsboks and jackals. More moisture comes in as a fog off the Atlantic Ocean than falls as rain, with the average 106 millimeters of rainfall per year concentrated in the months of February and April.

The winds that bring in the fog are also responsible for creating the park's towering sand dunes, whose burnt orange color is a sign of their age. The orange color develops over time as iron in the sand is oxidized, like rusty metal; the older the dune, the brighter the color.

These dunes are the tallest in the world, in places rising more than 300 meters (almost 1000 feet) above the desert floor. The dunes taper off near the coast, and lagoons, wetlands, and mudflats located along the shore attract hundreds of thousands of birds.

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The 8 most beautiful national parks around the worldFrom Namibia to China, Iceland to Canada, these 8 national parks are home to raw nature, at once wild and breathtaking, where usual human activity is barred and it is the creatures who write the laws of the land.

Namib-Naukluft National Park (Namibia)

Pictured

The ochre sands of the Namib Desert and the rocky peaks of Naukluft mountain range sprawl across almost 20,000 square miles of arid land. Namibia meaning literally “land of open spaces”, the vast desert is famed for its sea of sand dunes, the Sossusvlei, draws adventurers from across the globe to brave the rust-colored mountains of sand: with some almost 1,000 feet tall, they are the world’s highest. The rocky Kopie hills, a mix of dolomite and limestone, can be seen on the Naukluft side if the park, a region that mountain zebras, baboons and leopards call home.

Namib-Naukluft National Park in 4 Days - Story at Every CornerPlan your visit using our 4-day road-trip in Namibia including Namib-Naukluft National Park's Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Dune 45 and so much more. Read all about the road-trip for inspiration for your trip.

Namib-Naukluft Park travel | Namibia - Lonely PlanetExplore Namib-Naukluft Park holidays and discover the best time and places to visit. | Welcome to the Namib, the oldest desert on earth and certainly one of the most beautiful and accessible desert regions on the planet. This is sand-dune country par excellence, silent, constantly shifting and ageless, and an undoubted highlight of any visit to Namibia. The epicentre of its appeal is at Sossusvlei, Namibia’s most famous strip of sand, where gargantuan dunes tower more than 300m above the underlying strata. Elsewhere, the land lives up to its name: the Nama word <em>namib</em> inspired the name of the entire country and rather prosaically means ‘vast dry plain’. And then there are the Naukluft Mountains – barren and beautiful, and filled with an appeal all of their own.The Namib-Naukluft National Park takes in around 23,000 sq km of arid and semi-arid land, and protects various areas of vast ecological importance in the Namib and the Naukluft. The park also abuts the NamibRand Nature Reserve, the largest privately owned property in Southern Africa, forming a massive wildlife corridor that promotes migratory movement.