Oryx gazella – the gemsbok, aka “African oryx”/ “South African oryx” – is the largest oryx species.
Namibia’s emblematic mammal is prodigiously well-adapted to a very demanding environment.
Gemsbok would probably handsomely defeat the “ship of the desert” in any global championship for “most efficient/ hardiest mammal in sandy places where rain hardly ever falls, and where no “permanent” rivers flow”.
The Namib Desert’s “sand sea” – most especially, around Sossusvlei – has some of “our” planet’s most astonishing landscapes.
More than a few of its dunes dwarf even the largest local inhabitants!
This is one of various African & Arabian Peninsula locations that are touted as having “the world’s tallest (or biggest) dunes”.
All such claims are false.
The tallest/biggest dunes are in South America.
However, in their particular landscape’s beauty and grandeur, the dunes of Namibia’s “sand-sea” really are “untoppable”.
Eventually, Pelican Yoga will devote an entire series to the Namib sand-sea.
Meanwhile, this present series is about to “look down” on some other grand sands.
(I took this post’s photo, several ks away from the actual Sossusvlei, at 6.50 am on 22 November 2022)
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