Namib Secrets of a Desert Uncovered

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The Namib Desert - an ancient landscape with a long human history and an array of bizarre plant and animal adaptations – is Namibia’s invaluable west-coast asset. Nestled in the middle of this coastal strip is the Namib-Naukluft Park, poised to become, in its second hundred years, the centrepiece of a protected area extending from South Africa to Angola. A more effective configuration for sustainable development of Namibia’s desert lands is hard to imagine. Sand dunes in all shapes and sizes provide compelling subjects for photographers, artists, scientists, tourists and adventurers. Vast gravel plains stretch out to infinity, inselbergs stand proud of the desert and dunes, a magnet for people since before history was recorded, continue to beckon. And the ephemeral rivers, flowing unexpectedly along their dry courses recharging life-giving aquifers, have generated landscape transformations in their various guises for millennia. This book highlights the contributions of the Gobabeb Training and Research Centre in the heart of the Namib-Naukluft Park, as well as the innovative conservation approaches of farmers and tourism enterprises surrounding the desert and its parks. Human innovation, essential to early hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, has taken on new forms for the benefit of this unique desert landscape.