Product Details

• Actors: National Geographic
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 630447458X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,706 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #16 in	Video > Television > National Geographic > Exotic Destinations
  #47 in	Video > Television > National Geographic > Wildlife

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The word Namib is thought to mean "emptiness," but the Namib Desert is not empty at all--there is life in the endless expanse of wind and sand. In this southwest African coastal desert, an area 1,300 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide, creatures have learned to adapt to some of the most extreme conditions in the world. Plants and bugs, lizards, and snakes procure their only source of moisture from the fog, and even that is scarce. The sand lizard, one of 45 species of lizard in the Namib, lifts each foot alternately so as not to scorch its feet on ground that easily reaches 170 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1963 a research institute was founded in the desert to study the rare species and perhaps solve riddles of evolutionary relationships. This video uses the scientists and their research as the focal point and emphasizes insects perhaps more than anything else (there are 200 species of beetles in the Namib alone), though you will also see baboons, ostriches, and reptiles, among other animals. Highlights include the birth of a sidewinder snake, a father sand grouse bringing his family water from 50 miles away, barking geckoes, a spider cartwheeling down a dune to avoid a female wasp (unfortunately his escape is short-lived), and the landscape itself, which is breathtaking. If deserts are your thing, you may also want to check out Arabia: Sand, Sea & Sky. --Cristina Del Sesto

Product Description

For hundreds of thousands of years, the sun's rays have baked the Namib Desert in southwestern Africa, where ground temperatures reach up to 170F. Narrated by Burgess Meredith, this acclaimed program takes a fascinating look at the desert's vast wilderness of sand, sea and open spaces where nature has learned to adapt and flourish.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nambib Desert, November 15, 2000

By	Selena Karan "Shadow" (Kaneohe, HI USA) - See all my reviews

This was an excellent video. It covers an area that so little is known about. I found it most informative and intriguing. From this video I learned about a land that I though was realitively not inhabited. Almost anyone can watch this video and come away with more knowledge then they started with. The land is so harsh and different that the creatures are very intriguing in their differences.