Kunene Province, Namibia Photograph by © WWF-Canon/John E. NEWBY   Africa: Namibia Deserts and Xeric Shrublands   87,100 square miles (225,500 square kilometers) -- about the size of Utah and Connecticut combined Vulnerable

· Namaland
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Namaland

Moving inland from the extremely arid climate of the Namib Desert lies the semi-arid Namibian Savanna Woodlands. Also referred to as Namaland, it is a transition zone between the low-lying desert and the central highland plateau. It is stony and flat in places and dramatically mountainous in others, with extremely varied vegetation including mopane savanna, dwarf shrub savanna, and semi-desert and savanna transition. There are centers of endemism, including most notably the Kaoko escarpment and Brandberg Mountain. The isolation and cool, wet conditions at the summit of the Brandbert Mountain, in particular, may explain the high number of unique species found in this ecoregion.

Special Features

The Namibian Savanna Woodlands contain a number of desert plant species that are also found in North Africa--a distance greater than New York City to Los Angeles. The most widely accepted explanation for these broken distributions is that they were once connected by a continuous arid belt that stretched across Africa from Somalia to South Africa. Since that time, Central Africa has received much greater rainfall, thus isolating the dry adapted species in the North and South.

	The prehistoric-looking tadpole shrimp can be found in temporary rain pools in Southern Africa’s arid and semi-arid regions. The shrimps, also found in other arid regions of the world, have hardly changed from those that lived between 230 and 280 million years ago!

Wild Side

This ecoregion is home to a number of species, including Hartmann’s mountain zebra, the only large mammal endemic to Namibia, as well as desert-dwelling populations of elephants and black rhinoceros. In fact, this represents one of the last strongholds of black rhinos in the wild. Smaller residents include the Angola hairy bat, round-eared elephant shrew, and the pygmy rock mouse, which rarely ventures from its home in rock crevices. Reptiles include the Southwestern shovel-snout snake, Namaqua girdled lizard, and western dwarf burrowing skink, which uses its blue tail to distract predators from its head as it wiggles away. One might even hear the "plinking" calls of a barking gecko as it emerges from its burrow at dusk, or spot a Ludwig's bustard, the only bird in Southern Africa that regularly migrates between winter and summer rainfall areas. Other birds include the rockrunner, which is said to run like a mouse along rock ledges, as well as Rüppell's bustard, rosyfaced lovebird, violet wood-hoopoe, and white-tailed shrike.

Cause for Concern

Poaching has been a significant problem in the past, and remains a present day threat to the wildlife of the ecoregion, particularly for the black rhino. Although many large mammal populations have declined, species such as springbok, leopard, and gemsbok have remained stable. Farming practices have also affected the ecoregion. Although numerous livestock and game farmers in Namibia practice exemplary land management, poor land management through overstocking has led to soil erosion, loss of grass species diversity, and bush encroachment.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.