People and economy

A few San roamed the Namib until early in the 20th century, gathering whatever was edible along the shore, hunting in the Inner Namib, and often depending on the bitter juices of the tsama (tsamma) melon for water. A small number of Herero continue to herd cattle and goats from water hole to water hole in the desert part of the Kaokoveld, living in their traditional manner. A few Topnaar Nama Khoekhoe graze their sheep and goats on the riverine vegetation along the Kuiseb River. A great part of the Namib is now totally unused and unoccupied, the aboriginal people having left to adopt new homes and new ways of life. A few areas, however, are productive in some way.

The innermost steppes in the southern half of the desert are divided into private “farms” (ranches), which are operated by Europeans using local labour and are devoted to the raising of Karakul sheep; the wavy-haired pelts of newborn lambs of these sheep are used for fur coats in Europe.

Much of the central and northern Namib has been set aside for recreation and conservation. The Namib Desert Park in the central area is a desert range for antelopes, zebras, and ostriches. A strip about 130 miles (210 km) in length along the coast northwest of Swakopmund constitutes the National West Coast Tourist Area; within it is the Cape Cross Seal Reserve, which protects a breeding area. Farther north is the Skeleton Coast National Park, where entry is restricted in order to preserve the fragile desert environment.

A vast area stretching from the Kuiseb River to the Orange River on the South African border and reaching inland some 80 miles (130 km) constitutes the Sperrgebiet (“Prohibited Area”), to which all entry was long restricted because of the possible presence of diamonds there. Diamonds are extracted from alluvial beds near the coast by large-scale equipment, chiefly in the area near the mouth of the Orange River.

There are four cities on the Namib coast. Swakopmund, the summer capital for Namibia and a popular coastal resort town, still retains much of the atmosphere from the days when South West Africa was a German colony. Swakopmund has been greatly changed by the development of a large uranium mine located some 25 miles (40 km) inland. Walvis Bay, just to the south of Swakopmund, is a coastal enclave formerly belonging to South Africa that was transferred to Namibia in 1994. It is a modern port city with a mixed population—the Africans consisting partly of Nama families from south-central Namibia but largely of male Ambo from Angola and the northern part of Namibia who have found employment at the port. The port serves as a base for fishing fleets that supply both shore canneries and cannery ships on the open sea. It is the major transshipment port for Namibia. Lüderitz, a small town on a shallow, rock-strewn harbour, has a small trade with Walvis Bay and Cape Town and is the centre of a lobster industry. Oranjemund, a company town of the Namdeb Diamond Corp., is a base for large-scale diamond mining in the alluvial gravels along the southern coast.

The Namib is crossed by rail lines and tarred roads, both from Walvis Bay–Swakopmund and from Lüderitz, which are integrated with the internal rail and road systems of Namibia and South Africa. Except for roads from Swakopmund north for about 130 miles (210 km), between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, and from Lüderitz to Oranjemund, no improved roads exist along the coast, in the Kaokoveld to the northwest, or in the area between Walvis Bay and Lüderitz.

Study and exploration

Cursory exploratory voyages were made along the coast from the 15th to the 17th century, Walvis (“Whale Fish”) Bay was used as a base for New England whaling ships in the early 19th century, and there were direct routes for traders and missionaries from Lüderitz and Walvis Bay into the interior. Otherwise, little was known of the Namib until the latter part of the 19th century. After South West Africa was established as a colony of Germany in the early 1890s, the German military began detailed exploration and mapping of the desert.