A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat regions covered with wind-swept sand or dunes, with little or no vegetation, are called ergs or sand seas. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, but most kinds of dunes are longer on the stoss (upflow) side, where the sand is pushed up the dune, and have a shorter slip face in the lee side. The valley or trough between dunes is called a dune slack.
At 824,292 km2 (318,261 sq mi), Namibia is the world's thirty-fourth largest country. After Mongolia, Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world. Namibia got its name from the Namib desert that stretches along the coast of the Atlantic. It is also known for its wildlife.
Boardsports are active outdoor sports that are played with any sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrains, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considered action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. Some board sports were marginalized in the past. However, many board sports are gaining mainstream recognition, and with this recognition, they have gotten wider broadcasting, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games.
The Namib is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends 450 kilometres (280 mi) from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to 200 kilometres (120 mi) inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment. Annual precipitation ranges from 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in the aridest regions to 200 millimetres (7.9 in) at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world and contains some of the world's driest regions, with only western South America's Atacama Desert to challenge it for age and aridity benchmarks.
The Namib-Naukluft Park is a national park in western Namibia, situated between the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the edge of the Great Escarpment. It encompasses part of the Namib Desert, the Naukluft mountain range, and the lagoon at Sandwich Harbour. 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 desert research station of Gobabeb is situated within the park.
Bruneau Dunes State Park is a public recreation and geologic preservation area in the western United States, located in Owyhee County in southwestern Idaho. It is northeast of Bruneau and fifteen miles (25 km) south of Mountain Home.
Ica is a department and region of Peru. It borders the Pacific Ocean on the west; the Lima Region on the north; the Huancavelica and Ayacucho regions on the east; and the Arequipa Region on the south. Its capital is the city of Ica.
Ica is a city and the capital of the Department of Ica in southern Peru. While the area was long inhabited by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, the Spanish conquistador Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera claimed its founding in 1563.
Huacachina is a village built around a small oasis and surrounded by sand dunes in southwestern Peru. It is about five kilometers from the city of Ica in the Ica District of Ica Province. The oasis was introduced as a feature on the back of the 50 nuevo sol note in 1991. Huacachina has a permanent population of around 100 people, although it hosts many tens of thousands of tourists each year.
The narrow leaf-toed gecko is a medium-sized gecko with a maximum snout-vent length of 57 mm.
Paracas National Reserve is a protected area in the region of Ica, Peru and protects desert and marine ecosystems for their conservation and sustainable use. There are also archaeological remains of the Paracas culture inside the reserve.
Langstrand is a small beach resort on the Atlantic coast in western Namibia. Langstrand and its neighboring sister resort Dolfynstrand lies between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.
Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name "Sossusvlei" is often used in an extended meaning to refer to the surrounding area. These landmarks are some of the major visitor attractions of Namibia.
Carcross Desert, located outside Carcross, Yukon, Canada, is a series of sand dunes. The Carcross Desert measures approximately 2.6 km2 (1.0 sq mi), or 259 ha.
Tourism in Namibia is a major industry, contributing N$7.2 billion to the country's gross domestic product. Annually, over one million travelers visit Namibia, with roughly one in three coming from South Africa, then Germany and finally the United Kingdom, Italy and France. The country is among the prime destinations in Africa and is known for ecotourism which features Namibia's extensive wildlife.
Volcano boarding or volcano surfing is a sport performed on the slopes of a volcano. One of the most popular places for the activity is the Cerro Negro near Leon in western Nicaragua. Riders hike up the volcano and slide down, sitting or standing, on a thin plywood or metal board. The sport is also practiced on Mount Yasur on Tanna, Vanuatu; Mount Bromo in Indonesia; and very few other locations.
Monte Kaolino is a sand dune in Hirschau, Bavaria, Germany. It consists of 35,000,000 tonnes of sand, a by-product of the nearby kaolinite production. The sand dune is now used as a ski resort for sand skiing and sandboarding, in addition to other activities.
Sand skiing is a sport and form of skiing in which the skier rides down a sand dune or strides across a beach on skis. It is practised in many sandy areas, including Sossusvlei, Namibia and Peru, along with other boardsports such as sandboarding. Sand skiing equipment includes a pair of skis with a laminate base and wax that needs to be applied to reduce friction from the sand. An International Sandboarding and Sandski Association (InterSands) was founded in 2014 at St. Gallen, Switzerland.
