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Red Dunes & Salt Pans
Hardap & Sossusvlei: History & Culture
Hardap takes its name from the Hardap Dam, completed on the Fish River in 1963 and, until 2018, Namibia’s largest reservoir. The region reaches from the Kalahari’s fringes in the east to the red dunes of Sossusvlei and the Namib Sand Sea in the west, inside Namib-Naukluft National Park, first proclaimed a game reserve in 1907. Duwisib Castle, a pseudo-medieval fortress built in 1909 by a Saxon cavalry officer, stands near Malthahöhe. Mariental, the regional capital, anchors a sparsely populated ranching economy; Afrikaans and Nama/Damara are the region’s most widely spoken home languages.
Photo: Luca Galuzzi, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sossusvlei, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Hardap Dam, Duwisib Castle, Sesriem Canyon
Heritage & Landmarks
Completed 1963 on the Fish River — Namibia's largest dam until 2018, now a wildlife-rich reservoir
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013; some of the tallest sand dunes on Earth
Namibia's largest park, proclaimed a reserve in 1907, reaching from the Naukluft mountains to Sesriem
A 1909 pseudo-medieval fortress built by a Saxon cavalry officer, now a museum near Malthahöhe
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