8th June 2023: Namib Sand Sea, Namibia (my first postcard!)

Namibia is a country in Southern Africa bordering on Angola, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. It is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the most sparsely populated countries in the World. In 1884 the German Empire established rule over most of the territory forming a colony known as German South West Africa. Between 1904 and 1908 German troops waged a punitive campaign against the Herero and Nama which escalated into the first genocide of the 20th century. In 1920 after the end of World War I and the German rule, the League of Nations mandated administration of the colony to South Africa. Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990 and is nowadays a member state of the United Nations, the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations. Windhoek is the country's capital and largest city.

Namib Sand Sea is the only coastal desert in the World that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog. It features gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, inselbergs within the sand sea, a coastal lagoon and ephemeral rivers resulting in a landscape of exceptional beauty. Fog is the primary source of water in the site accounting for a unique environment in which  endemic invertebrates, reptiles and mammals adapt to an ever-changing variety of microhabitats and ecological niches. Namib Sand Sea is since 2013 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Thank You very much Marcel!