Namibia

Some 130 million years ago, the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart, leaving behind the southern continents we know today. Namibia, once locked in the heart of Gondwana, now lies on the western coast of Africa. When the continental separation was complete, massive volcanoes remained as mountains such as the Brandberg and Spitzkoppe. The landscape still bears witness to this ancient past: ghost rivers carved by Ice Age glaciers, dinosaur tracks embedded in sandstone, and a coastline that formed alongside the Atlantic Ocean when primordial forces reshaped the planet.

With a surface area of 824,268 square kilometres, Namibia is vast more than three times the size of Great Britain and twice that of Germany. It sits on the southwestern Atlantic coast of Africa, bordered by Angola to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south. In the far northeast lies the Zambezi Region (formerly the Caprivi Strip), an elongated panhandle of tropical riverine swamplands that also borders Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Namibia can be divided into four distinct topographical regions, the most defining of which is the Namib Desert, from which the country derives its name. One of the oldest deserts in the world possibly the oldest the Namib has been arid for at least 80 million years. It covers roughly 15% of Namibia, featuring dramatic dune seas, gravel plains, and deeply eroded canyons, such as the Fish River Canyon, which stretches 160 km in length, reaches up to 27 km in width, and plunges to depths of 550 meters.

The country harbors extremes: the Skeleton Coast, where Portuguese sailors once dubbed it "The Gates of Hell" for its ship-swallowing fog and treacherous currents, and Sossusvlei's soaring red dunes among Earth's tallest at over 300 meters—whose ancient sands glow crimson in the desert sun.

The central plateau stretches north to south, with an average altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 meters, featuring landscapes that range from rugged mountain ranges and rocky outcrops to sand-filled valleys and expansive plains. This plateau gradually descends eastward, where a sandy strip merges into the Kalahari Desert the Kalahari sandveld sprawls beyond Namibia's borders into Botswana, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In the north, it expands to encompass the plains surrounding Etosha Pan and the regions of Kavango and Zambezi. Almost half the size of Lebanon, Etosha Pan is large enough to be classified as a saline desert.

Granite mountains rise like steep islands from the plains of the inner Namib. Among them stands the Brandberg massif, Namibia's highest point at 2,579 meters. The country's only perennial rivers flow along its borders: the Kunene, Kavango, Zambezi, and Kwando in the north, and the Orange River in the south. None originates within Namibia itself. Internal rivers even the longest, the 600 km Fish River—are ephemeral, flowing only after heavy rains and rarely along their entire length. The larger ones retain water in pools for months after flooding, but most remain dry for much of the year.