Namib Sand Sea

World Heritage

Namibia

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The Namib Sand Sea is the only coastal desert in the world with an extensive dune field affected by fog. The site covers over 3 million hectares, with a buffer zone of 899,500 hectares, and consists of two dune systems, an ancient semi-consolidated dune system overlain by a younger active dune system. The desert dunes are formed by rivers, ocean currents and winds transporting material thousands of kilometers inland. It features gravel plains, coastal plains, rocky hills, isolated mountains in the sand sea, coastal lagoons and seasonal rivers, forming an exceptionally beautiful landscape. Fog is the main source of water for the site, providing a unique environment for endemic invertebrates, reptiles and mammals, which are able to adapt to changing microhabitats and niches.

# Coastal Desert

# Fog Effect

# Dune System

# Geological landscape

# Biological compatibility

# Water Source

A warning sign in the Sperrgebiet from the government of South West Africa, picture taken in 1947

An image of the Namib Desert by the MODIS instrument

Namib desert and ocean

Gemsboks (Oryx gazella) are the biggest antelopes found in the Namib

The Welwitschia plant is considered a living fossil, and is found only in the Namib Desert

Thick morning fog rolls in from the ocean, near Sossusvlei; moisture from the fog allows the native ...

Thick morning fog rolls in from the ocean, near Sossusvlei moisture from the fog allows the native ...

Sossusvlei, one of the Namib's major tourist attractions, is a salt and clay pan surrounded by large...

Sossusvlei area with Deadvlei

Yellow desert

An area known as the 'Moon Landscape'

Quiver trees within Namib Desert

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Information extracted from Wikidata

IPA transcription	2247319
geoshape	NamibDesert
office held by head of the organization	http://g.co/kg/m/018_wk
Commons category	Namib Desert
coordinate location	Point(15.0 -23.0)
topic's main category	Category:Namib Desert
WWF ecoregion code	AT1315
length	2000
area	81000
area	3077700
width	200
World Heritage criteria	World Heritage selection criterion (x)
image	http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Namib%20Desert%20surface.jpg
instance of	desert
said to be the same as	Namib desert ecoregion
executive body	Namib Desert

start time	2013-01-01T00:00:00Z
official name	Namib Sand Sea
official name	Arenal de Namib
official name	Erg du Namib
official name	ナミブ砂海
official name	Namibische zandzee
volume as quantity	World Heritage selection criterion (x)
area	899500
applies to part	buffer zone