The Oldest Desert in the World

After lovely visits to Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, Namibia, we visited the Namib Desert.

It was really cool to watch these guys on the dunes...I'm tempted to go back and try this!

The Namib Desert is the world's oldest desert.

It was breathtaking to see the dunes literally end in the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

When I think of deserts, I don't think of standing on dunes at the edge of a massive ocean of water.

On the sea edge of the Namib Desert, I passed several of these displays.  The shells spell out "Jesus."

One of the ship wrecks off the Namibian coast at the southern tip of the infamous Skeleton Coast. 

Local Bushman called the coast "The Land God Made in Anger" and Portuguese sailors called it "The Gates of Hell."

Why? The location has dense ocean fogs, the climate inhospitable, constant heavy surf, and lots of rocks..

all of which have resulted in more than a thousand wrecked vessels along the coast.

It's part of the reason sailors were so ecstatic when they would reach the Cape of Good Hope.

What?!  SAND? In the desert?!!  

Why, thank you for the warning.  I'll keep my eyes out for some sand.

(PS. This is by far one of my favorite signs I've seen in Africa.)

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