Namib-Naukluft Park
At 40 000kmē the Namib-Naukluft Park in the Namib Desert is the largest game park in Africa and the forth largest conservation area in the world. In the Nama language the word Namib means 'vast' which is an understatement when applied to the expanse of this park.
The park was formed by the combining of the Namib Desert, the Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park and sections of the Diamond Area and is home to attractions such as Sossusvlei and the Naukluft mountains, as well as many hiking and 4X4 trails and some very strange and rare plants and animals, including the Welwitschia Mirabilis and the Hartmann's Mountain Zebra. The creatures surviving in this area are highly adapted to drought and lack of water as an average of only 106mm of rainfall occurs here a year - in fact more moisture is gained from fog than from rainfall. The fog is brought by strong winds that are also responsible for whipping the sand into the huge burnt orange sand dunes that are a characteristic of the park.
The dunes take on this burnt orange colour due to their age - over time the iron that is found in the sand oxidizes and rusts and turns the sand a bright orange. Therefore the brighter the colour of the dune the older it is.
Most parts of the park are inaccessible to man with only a small stretch being open to the public; the purple-hued Naukluft Mountains, which are a hiker's paradise, and Sossusvlei. Aside from these areas the only way to view the park is from a light aircraft on a flight from Walvis Bay or Swakopmund.
