Namibia(Republic of Namibia)

The official language is English.

Ordinary passenger cars have yellow license plates.

After German colonial rule, Namibia was placed under South African mandate. As a result, German-sounding street and place names still show up.

In places like Swakopmund, German-influenced Western-style architecture survives. Urban areas are relatively safe, with well-developed housing and infrastructure.

With a Gini coefficient of 0.58, wealth inequality is extreme. Western-style buildings fill city centers, while slums spread across less livable areas, like rocky hillsides, on the outskirts.

White block-shaped bollards appear at roadsides and intersections. In the coastal Namib Desert, thin white metal (?) bollards can also be found.

The extremely flat Namib Desert stretches along the coast. Past the coastal lowland is the mountainous Great Escarpment, where elevation climbs roughly 1,000m. Rugged, rocky mountains are also visible in central areas and higher-elevation areas.

The share of ground covered by trees and grass varies by region. Green areas are over 80% covered, while yellow-green areas show more bare ground.

• Areas covered 80% or more
• Areas with trees but not grassland cover
• Areas classified as "Nama Karoo" — only low shrubs and small grasses, no large trees, and never covered by grassland
• The Namib Desert

Walvis Bay, the most important port, and Lüderitz, the only port until the end of apartheid. Container railways run from these two places.

• Walvis Bay (the ground along the tracks is raised)
• Lüderitz

In the mountains of northwest to central Namibia, various mines produce copper, zinc, uranium, and gold, and their signage occasionally shows up. Almost all mines are north of the capital, Windhoek.

• Zinc
• Gold
• Tin

The so-called "exploding palm" (Hyphaene petersiana) grows in the north near the Angolan border and along the northwestern coast.

Pterocarpus angolensis (kiaat, or African teak) grows wild along the Kavango-Caprivi corridor in the northeast, where round, brown, shell-like seed pods can be spotted. This area has a lot of white sand.

Aloe dichotoma (the quiver tree) grows only in South Africa and southwestern Namibia. Its silhouette is easy to recognize.

Welwitschia grows only in the Namib Desert of Angola and Namibia, with most records within 80km of the coast. Seeing it would be rare.

Aussenkehr has a distinctive streetscape of thatched-roof houses, surrounded by farmland.

Oranjemund was originally private land owned by the diamond company De Beers, so there are no old houses — instead, evenly spaced homes and well-developed infrastructure.

The road to the tourist destination Sossusvlei passes through a plain surrounded by tall red dunes. On satellite imagery, this road is the only flat corridor through the area.

In parts of northern Namibia, you can see Brandberg Mountain, Namibia's highest peak — a huge, flat-topped massif.