The oldest desert in the world
The word “Namib” is of Nama origin and means “vast place”. Living up to its name, the Namib Desert spans an area of about 81.000km2, reaching from the south of Angola, through the Namibian coast, all the way to South Africa.
The color of the dunes is proof of its old age: the sand is red because it is rich in iron, which oxidizes with the passing of time and paints the desert in red. In fact, the Namib Desert is nowadays known to be the oldest desert on planet Earth, counting over 80 million years of age.