standerbeetle. As you will soon learn, we were successful at three out of four! We
were lucky enough to see other animal species we had not anticipated.
Namibia has been independent only since 1990, after having been the German
colony of Southwest Africa until World War I when it became a protectorate of South
Africa. After a lengthy uprising, the United Nations negotiated a settlement between
the insurgents and the South African government which created a free & independent
nation.
It has a large territory, being a slightly more than half the size of Alaska. Because it
is occupied by two deserts, the country has less than 1 percent arable land.
The two deserts are the Kalahari in the southern part and the Namib running the
length of the Atlantic Coast stretching as far as 100 miles inland. One great
achievement of this arid nation is the fact that it is the first country in the world
to include environmental protection in its constitution ; therefore about 14% of the land
is set aside as parks and preserves.
NAMIB DESERT
The Namib is the world’s oldest desert at 55 million years and it boasts the highest sand
dunes in the world: the tallest is 980 feet high. The entire desert is part of the
preserved land of the country. The Kuiseb River bisects the desert creating two fairly
different terrains. South of the river is the great sand sea characterized by parallel
sand dunes with regular troughs between them. The great red hills are beautiful in
their austerity and in the colors which the sunlight and shadow paint on their silky
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