After Mongolia, Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world (2.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.0/sq mi)).

In many areas within the Namib Desert, there is little vegetation with the exception of lichens found in the gravel plains, and in dry river beds where plants can access subterranean water.

[citation needed] "Fairy circles", which are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 22 and 12 metres (7 and 39 ft) in diameter and often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass, are found in the Namib,[4] such as those near the Wolwedans desert camp.

[6] The water, along with rapidly changing topography, is responsible for the creation of microhabitats which offer a wide range of organisms, many of them endemic.

Vegetation along the escarpment varies in both form and density, with community structure ranging from dense woodlands to more shrubby areas with scattered trees.

The Bushveld is found in northeastern Namibia along the Angolan border and in the Caprivi Strip which is the vestige of a narrow corridor demarcated for the German Empire to access the Zambezi River.

The area receives a significantly greater amount of precipitation than the rest of the country, averaging around 400 mm (15.7 in) per year.

[7] Located adjacent to the Bushveld in north-central Namibia is one of nature's most spectacular features: the Etosha Pan.

For most of the year, it is a dry, saline wasteland, but during the wet season, it forms a shallow lake covering more than 6,000 square kilometres (2,317 sq mi).

The area is ecologically important and vital to the large numbers of birds and animals from the surrounding savannah that gather in the region as summer drought forces them to the scattered waterholes that ring the pan.

The Bushveld area has been demarcated by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the Angolan mopane woodlands ecoregion, which extends north across the Cunene River into neighbouring Angola.

Another feature of the Kalahari, indeed many parts of Namibia, are inselbergs, isolated mountains that create microclimates and habitats for organisms not adapted to life in the surrounding desert matrix.

[13] Humidity is low, and average rainfall varies from almost zero in the coastal desert to more than 600 millimetres or 24 inches in the Caprivi Strip.

[17] Weather and climate in the coastal area are dominated by the cold, north-flowing Benguela Current of the Atlantic Ocean which accounts for very low precipitation totalling 50 millimetres or 2 inches per year or less, frequent dense fog, and overall lower temperatures than in the rest of the country.

[14] "Ministry of Works & Transport: Tabulation of Climate Statistics for Selected Stations in Namibia" (PDF).

Even isolated communities and those economic activities located far from good surface water sources, such as mining, agriculture, and tourism, can be supplied from groundwater over nearly 80% of the country.

In the north near the border with Angola there is a flat area that has been designated by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the Angolan mopane woodlands ecoregion.

Total renewable water resources: 17.72 km3 (2011) Natural hazards: prolonged periods of drought Environment – current issues: depletion and degradation of water and aquatic resources; desertification; land degradation; loss of biodiversity and biotic resources; wildlife poaching Environment – international agreements: party to: Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands This is a list of the extreme points of Namibia, the points that are farther north, south, east, or west than any other location.