The physical structure of the country is extremely simple. The dominant physical facts are: a slowly rising sandy coast belt; a high interior plateau, broken by isolated mountain ranges; and a gently falling eastern strip of sandy country that merges in the level expanse of the Kalahari Desert.
The Coast Strip or the Namib
The coast strip is a desert, varying from 15 to 100 miles in width, stretching from the Kunene to the Orange, in which at only a few places is fresh water obtainable. To this desert the designation “Namib” has been applied—a name originally restricted to the middle portion of the strip. Dr. Stapff divides it into three parts: the stony desert north of Walvis Bay, the valley of the Kuisip converging on Walvis Bay, and the long sand dunes that run south from Walvis Bay to the Orange.
As a picture of dreariness and desolation this desert in places is not surpassed even by the Sahara. South of Walvis Bay there run from north to south mile upon mile of yellowish grey sand in long lines of immense dunes some of them 600 feet in height. Dark, rocky hills, with faces scarred and scoured into grotesque shapes, cut across the lines here and there, and heap up the sand at their base on the windward side in numerous hillocks. In some of the depressions formed by the dunes the white basins of vleís reflect the burning rays of the sun. Fierce sandstorms rage over the dunes at intervals, and the dense yellow clouds sweep along close to the earth at a terrific speed, blotting out the light of the sun, raining a perfect hurricane of gritty particles upon the traveller unfortunate enough to be found in the track of the tornado.
Seen from the coast the Namib has the general appearance of a vast plain with a boundless horizon, but the country ascends continually though almost imperceptibly towards the interior; at a distance of only 60 miles from Walvis Bay, for instance, the traveller finds himself some 2,000 feet above sea-level.
The prevailing formations along the coast are: gneiss, granite, quartzites, mica schists, recent chalks, crystalline limestones.
“The whole coast, several miles wide,” says Dr. Versfeld, “is a portion of a vast Titanic pudding, whose ingredients have been well stirred.”[1]
There is a concensus of opinion among geologists that at some remote period a tremendous upheaval of the marine bed took place, resulting in the present coast formation. The disintegration of the gneiss rocks and the action of the furious trade winds, have since led to the formation of the sand dunes.
The natural harbours are surprisingly few for such a lengthy coast-line. Walvis Bay, which lies almost exactly midway between the Orange and Kunene estuaries, is the principal inlet. A deep channel gives access to large steamers, which are able to lie at anchor in a fine, oval basin some 20 square miles in extent, completely sheltered from the strong prevailing winds. This Bay, with 450 square miles of adjoining territory, has been in the possession of Great Britain since 1878, but very little use has been made of it.
Luderitz Bay, some 250 miles south of Walvis Bay, is the next considerable inlet. It ramifies to the right and left for about five miles south of the entrance, and here, too, large steamers find safe anchorage. Swakop Bay, 25 miles north of Walvis Bay, is merely an open roadstead with a landing jetty.