The Dunes of Namib: The World's Oldest Desert

The Namib is the world's oldest desert — at least 43 million years old — stretching some 2,000 km along the Atlantic coast of Angola, Namibia and South Africa. Its sand dunes, some towering up to 300 metres and stretching for miles, form one of the planet's most surreal and photogenic landscapes.

A landscape of shifting sand

Dunes take their shape from the wind: long, linear transverse dunes from steady one-directional winds; spectacular, multi-ridged star dunes from winds that shift from many directions. The deep apricot colour comes from iron-oxide-coated sand, intensifying with the dune's age.

Sossusvlei and Deadvlei

The most famous dunes rise at Sossusvlei in the southern Namib. Nearby Deadvlei — a white clay pan studded with the blackened skeletons of 900-year-old camel-thorn trees against towering orange dunes — is one of Africa's most arresting sights, especially at sunrise.

Experience the Namib with Swain

Swain Destinations pairs the Namib's dunes with desert-adapted wildlife and the finest lodges in tailor-made Namibia and Southern Africa itineraries.