The Namib-Naukluft area is in western Namibia, situated between the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the edge of the Great Escarpment. It encompasses the Namib Desert (considered the world’s oldest desert) and the Naukluft mountain range. The best-known area is Sossusvlei, a clay pan surrounded by the tallest sand dunes in the world, in places rising more than 300 meters above the desert floor.
More moister comes in as fog off the Atlantic Ocean than falls as rain. The winds that bring in the fog are also creating the towering sand dunes; whose burnt orange color is a sign of their age. The orange color develops over time as iron in the sand is oxidized, like rusty metal; the older the dune, the brighter the color. The dunes taper off near the coast, and lagoons, wetlands and mudflats located along the shore attract hundreds of thousands of birds. (Source: Wikipedia)
