Geography of Namibia

Namibia is a large and interesting country in southern Africa. It covers an area of 824,292 square kilometers, making it the world’s thirty-fourth largest country. One special feature of Namibia is that it is very empty, with only a few people living in each square kilometer. This makes it the second least crowded country in the world after Mongolia.

The country gets its name from the Namib desert, which runs along its coast next to the Atlantic Ocean. This desert is one of the oldest in the world and has many unique plants and animals. Namibia is also famous for its wild animals, with places like Etosha National Park being home to lions, elephants, and many other species. The wide-open spaces and beautiful landscapes make Namibia a fascinating place to learn about.

Geographical areas

The Namibian landscape consists generally of five geographical areas, each with characteristic abiotic conditions and vegetation with some variation within and overlap between them: the Central Plateau, the Namib Desert, the Great Escarpment, the Bushveld, and the Kalahari Desert.

The Central Plateau runs from north to south, bordered by the Skeleton Coast to the northwest, the Namib Desert and its coastal plains to the southwest, the Orange River to the south, and the Kalahari Desert to the east. The Central Plateau is home to the highest point in Namibia at Königstein. Windhoek, the nation's capital, is located here, as well as most of the arable land.

The Namib Desert is a broad expanse of hyper-arid gravel plains, and dunes that stretches along the entire coastline. Areas within the Namib include the Skeleton Coast and the Kaokoveld in the north and the extensive Namib Sand Sea along the central coast. "Fairy circles", which are circular patches of land barren of plants, are found in the Namib.

The Great Escarpment swiftly rises to over 2,000 metres (6,562 ft). Vegetation along the escarpment varies in both form and density.

The Bushveld is found in northeastern Namibia along the Angolan border and in the Caprivi Strip. The area receives a significantly greater amount of precipitation than the rest of the country. Located adjacent to the Bushveld in north-central Namibia is the Etosha Pan. For most of the year, it is a dry wasteland, but during the wet season, it forms a shallow lake.

The Kalahari Desert is perhaps Namibia's best-known geographical feature. Shared with South Africa and Botswana, it has a variety of localised environments ranging from hyper-arid sandy desert to areas that seem to defy the common definition of desert. One of these areas, known as the Succulent Karoo, is home to over 5,000 species of plants.

Namibia's Coastal Desert is one of the oldest deserts in the world. Its sand dunes, created by the strong onshore winds, are the highest in the world. The Namib Desert and the Namib-Naukluft National Park are located here. The Namibian coastal deserts are the richest source of diamonds on earth, making Namibia the world's largest producer of diamonds. It is divided into the northern Skeleton Coast and the southern Diamond Coast.

[Fish River Canyon](/wiki/Fish_River_Canyon).

[Namib Desert](/wiki/Namib_Desert).

Namib Escarpment.

The [Kalahari Desert](/wiki/Kalahari_Desert).

[Windhoek](/wiki/Windhoek) skyline.

Natural-colour satellite image of the Namibian coast.

Weather and climate

Namibia enjoys sunshine on more than 300 days each year. It lies near the bottom half of the world, where the Tropic of Capricorn runs right through the middle. Winters from June to August are usually dry, while the two rainy seasons happen in summer — a smaller one from September to November and a bigger one from February to April. The air stays dry, and rainfall changes a lot, from almost nothing on the coastal desert to over 600 millimetres or 24 inches in the Caprivi Strip. Sometimes, there aren't enough rains for a whole year, which leads to droughts. Very little snow falls here because of the dry winters, but when it does, people talk about it. The most recent snow was seen at Spreetshoogte Pass in the Namib-Naukluft Park back in June 2011.

Near the coast, the weather is influenced by a cold ocean current called the Benguela Current. This brings very little rain — just 50 millimetres or 2 inches each year — along with thick fog and cooler temperatures than elsewhere in the country. Sometimes, a warm, dry wind called Berg wind or Oosweer in Afrikaans blows from the desert inland toward the coast. When this happens, sand can be carried out to sea and seen from space.

The Central Plateau and Kalahari areas can have very different temperatures between day and night, sometimes changing by up to 30 °C or 54 °F.

Examples

Water sources

Main article: Water supply and sanitation in Namibia

Namibia is one of the driest places in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of its water comes from deep underground. Rain falls about 350 mm (14 in) each year, more in the northeast Caprivi Strip and less near the coast. Only a few rivers flow all year, mostly along borders with South Africa, Angola, Zambia, and Botswana. Inside Namibia, rivers only fill up after big rains in summer. People store this water in large dams. Where there are no rivers or dams, folks use groundwater. Even far-off towns and farms get water from underground sources across most of the country. The longest river here is the Fish River, stretching 650 km (400 mi).

Over the past hundred years, people have dug more than 120,000 deep wells called boreholes. One-third of these did not find water. In 2012, a big underground water source called "Ohangwena II" was found on the border with Angola. Experts think it could give water to 800,000 people in the north for 400 years at today’s use rate. Namibia is believed to hold about 7,720 km³ (1,850 cu mi) of water underground.

Every year, heavy rains from Angola cause floods in northern Namibia, filling up flood plains called Oshanas. The biggest floods happened in March 2011, forcing 21,000 people to leave their homes.

Urbanization

Main articles: List of cities and towns in Namibia and Namibia § Urban settlements

Windhoek, the capital city, sits in the middle of Namibia. It holds important places like the Central Administrative Region, Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, and the main train station. Other key towns include:

• Arandis, known for uranium mining
• Walvis Bay, a busy seaport with an international airport and train station
• Oshakati, the main business hub in the north and a train stop
• Otjiwarongo, a central-north business centre with train connections
• Lüderitz, a sea port and train stop
• Gobabis, a centre for farming
• Keetmanshoop, a train stop
• Tsumeb, famous for mining
• Swakopmund, a popular tourist spot with German colonial history
• Rundu
• Katima Mulilo
• Okahandja

Statistics

Namibia is a country in Southern Africa, located along the South Atlantic Ocean between Angola and South Africa. It is the world's thirty-fourth largest country, covering an area of 824,292 km².

The landscape includes mostly high plateaus, the Namib Desert along the coast, and the Kalahari Desert in the east. The lowest point is at sea level on the Atlantic Ocean, while the highest point is Königstein at 2,573 meters above sea level. Namibia has many natural resources such as diamonds, copper, and fish. However, the country faces challenges like drought and the loss of wildlife due to poaching.

Extreme points

This section lists the farthest points of Namibia, showing where the country is most north, south, east, and west.

• Northernmost point – an unnamed spot on the border with Angola in the Kunene River near the Epupa Falls, Kunene Region
• Easternmost point – the tripoint with Botswana and Zambia, Zambezi Region
• Southernmost point – an unnamed spot in Pella Drift on the Orange River border with South Africa, ǁKaras Region
• Westernmost point – an unnamed part of the coast west of the Okotuso well, Kunene Region