The best-known area of the park and one of the main visitor attractions in Namibia is Sossusvlei, a clay pan surrounded by dunes, and Sesriem, a small canyon of the Tsauchab.

The region is characterised by high, isolated inselbergs and kopjes (the Afrikaans term for rocky outcrops), made up of dramatic blood-red granites, rich in feldspars and sandstone.

More moisture comes in as a fog off the Atlantic Ocean then falls as rain, with the average of 106 millimeters of rainfall per year concentrated in February and April.

The winds that bring in the fog are also responsible for creating the park's towering sand dunes, whose burnt orange color is a sign of their age.

The Namib Desert Park included a small area north of the Swakop River where Welwitschia grow, as well as the Moon Landscape east of Swakopmund.

The second area added was a 1,600-kilometre (1,000 mi) strip of the Atlantic Ocean, making the Namib-Naukluft Park Namibia's first marine reserve.