Why 97% of Namibia is Empty

Select video clips courtesy of Getty Images

Select video clips courtesy of the AP Archive

Special thanks to MapTiler / OpenStreetMap Contributors and GEOlayers 3

[JonnyCobra]

As a Namibian journalist, I feel obliged to point out some factual errors:
1. The capital's name is pronounced "wind-hook", and means windy corner in Afrikaans.
2. The main reason the coast - in part called the Skeleton Coast - is because the very cold Benguela Current makes landfall along the central coastal zone between Lüderitz and Walvis Bay.
3. Our rain does not come from across South Africa, but from a northerly direction via the central Congo Basin. The cyclones from the Indian Ocean collide with the cold dry air pushed up along the south-western coast by the Benguela Current.
That means that most of the precipitation occurs over Angola and it gets progressively drier the further south you go.
Southern Namibia however gets winter rains as part of the winter rain zone over the Western Cape Province of SA.
4. The Benguela current also pushes out sand along the coast line, causing it grow steadily, i.e. Namibia is in fact growing in size as the coastal zone keeps getting wider. Namibia is in fact growing all the time, as can be seen from e.g. how far the shipwreck of the Dunedin Star is now located inland (about 3 km from the beach).
5, Apart from Walvis Bay and Lüderitz, there are three large towns along the coast: Oranjemund on the SA border, Swakopmund located 30 km from Walvis Bay and the retirement town of Henties Bay, about 90 lm north of Swakop.
6. Diamonds only occur along the southern coastal belt in big quantities. While there are diamonds found much further north along the coast, those are believed to originate from Angola. And no, the diamond production is not increasing but in fact in slow decline.
7. Apart from uranium, Namibia is also a major gold producer. And no, uranium is not our biggest mineral export - diamonds are the biggest mineral export by value.

[Tom-wrmq]

I grew up in South Africa and my dad was a professional racing driver in his youth. He always speaks of how he did offroad races in the Namib desert, and that Namibia is by far the most beautiful place he has ever travelled to for a race and how friendly the population is. He even considered moving to Windhoek. One day I hope to go on a trip from Johannesburg to Namibia with him and see it for myself

[Sonic_Titan]

I'm from Angola and have been to Namibia once, I gotta say the capital Windhoek is one of the cleanest and most well organized cities i've been to. I also did a safari there and was amazed by how beautiful it is.

[travelispassionromania]

I want to visit Namibia 🇳🇦 so much!!!! Respect, love and blessings to you and all your country from Româniă 🇷🇴

[Heplerking]

I am a Namibian and I am proud of my countries beauty, but I wish you could have told the truth about our poverty even if the country is rich in resources. Our country is led by corrupt politicians we are starving and unemployment is sky high. Only the elite live a lavish lifestyle whilst 97% of the people are suffering. In a house populated by at least 9 to 14 people a mixture of adults and children only 1 person works whilst the rest are unemployed.

[lucitheunlucky]

Hey man, I love your content. A source document would be nice though. It takes a few minutes to make one and it really adds value for people who want to use your videos as a jumping off point for further research.

[wdm]

Greetings from the USA. I visited Namibia back in 2007 and found it to be a beautiful country with friendly people. I didn’t make it to the coast as I spent most of my time in Windhoek, Namib-Naukluft National Park, and the Caprivi Strip. Hopefully I can visit again someday.

[Africatv]

I wish Namibia become like those middle East countries which were Deserts but now are more build and really developed. I am a Kenyan currently in South Africa and I have Namibian friends. They're so calm and friendly. God bless Namibia

[lukebradley]

I went to Windhoek once to play in a cricket tournament from Zimbabwe and was blown away by the city. Nothing like I ever expected. The people are so friendly, infrastructure top notch for a small city, very very clean like you won’t find a plastic bag on the street, and some great beer!

[absalomkiiyalaiitenge]

As a Namibian i love seeing such videos about our beautiful country. We that live here also still get mesmerized by our coastline and dune's every single time we see it.

[azarioeberenz]

Just wanted to point out that He is wrong about the population. I live at the coast in Swakopmund and although the population is does not exceed a million it is not a waste land. Please do research on the pronunciation of the Capital City and research on literally everything else about the country before you post a video like this. There are literally a lot of towns scattered all over Namibia. Although there are a few villages the towns that we have should be acknowledged too.

[justicesangweni]

Here's how you pronounce Windhoek; "Vindhook" . Also there's a really good Lager beer named after the city

[jeandrewvanrooyen]

I'm from Namibia, thank you for so extensively talking about my country, I always thought it was a very interesting place geographically but some of the stuff you talked about I'm just now finding out about

[nathansamuelson]

The horrible irony of a massive coast having barely any viable ports and practically no rain. Those massive dunes right at the coast are insane.

[rbg]

I'm from East Europe. Over the years I've been with my cargo ship in almost all the big ports in West Africa, from Casablanca all the way down to Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. I've been in Walvis Bay 3 times and always had a nice experience. It's one of the nicest towns I ever visited, warm and friendly people. Unfortunately there are many cities in West African countries, where is not so safe to walk around by yourself (at least for me), but I never had that feeling or got any such info about Walvis Bay.
Even though it's surrounded by desert, for some reason it still remains one of my favorite places.

[michaellawson]

The Namib desert alone is not the oldest but shares its age with the Atacama Desert in South America when they were once one landmass and are both aged at 300 million years. There is a major altitude difference of 14 000 ft which occurred after the continental split took place and the Andes mountains started to rise on the present geo faultline.

[TheSlowoldman]

My daughter studied abroad in Namibia, it will always hold a special place in her heart. She said the people were loving, kind and very welcoming. She had wanted to visit Africa since she was a small child and she saw that dream come true. Studying in Windhoek and skydiving in Swakopmund, she made lifetime friends and memories there.

[AussieAvgeek]

As someone who lived in Namibia most my life, I'm just glad to see someone talking about us

[dnmz]

Fun fact. The indigenous people of Southern Africa the Koi San call Namibia "The Land God Made in Anger"

[Jaradis]

I'm curious, if it's so foggy, would large-scale fog nets be useful in producing fresh water along the coast? I saw another video where they were putting up giant fences/nets to capture fresh water from the fog in one country in Africa. The water would then drip down to the ground and increased the water supply in the streams that were slowly drying up. Right now there is nothing there for the fog to condense on, but if you could get enough fresh water in one area to start growing some bushes/trees they would also support the condensation of fog to create a positive feedback loop.