Namib Sand Sea 

This area is the world's only coastal desert with significant dune fields impacted by fog. The property is made up of two dune systems, an old semi-consolidated one overlain by a younger active one, and spans over three million hectares with a 899,500 hectare buffer zone.

The passage of materials thousands of kilometers from the hinterland, carried by river, ocean current, and wind, forms the desert dunes. Gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, inselbergs inside the sand sea, a coastal lagoon, and ephemeral rivers make for a breathtaking scenery. Fog is the site's principal supply of water, creating a unique ecosystem where indigenous invertebrates, reptiles, and mammals adapt to a range of microhabitats and ecological niches.

The Namib Sand Sea is located entirely within Namibia's Namib-Naukluft Park, along the dry African coast of the South Atlantic.

The Namib Sand Sea is a one-of-a-kind coastal fog desert with a wide range of enormous, changing dunes.
It's a great illustration of the aesthetic, geomorphological, ecological, and evolutionary effects of wind-driven processes interacting with geology and biology. Most recognized varieties of dunes, as well as associated landforms such as inselbergs, pediplains, and playas, are found in the sand sea, which was produced by aeolian depositional processes.

It is a place of extraordinary natural beauty, with exceptional visibility of landscape elements during the day and the spectacular southern hemisphere sky at night due to atmospheric conditions.

The Namib Sand Sea's fog-shrouded coastal dunes are home to a variety of very unique behavioural, morphological, and physiological adaptations that have evolved among its specialised groups. The abundance of unique plants and animals serves as a global illustration of evolution and life's adaptability in harsh settings.

Namib Sand Sea was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.

(Source UNESCO)