Pléiades Neo was mobilised to map the Namib Desert in order to constitute a cartographic reference database, helping to identify and study large animals. Oryx gazelles, elephants, lions or spotted hyenas and other rare species inhabit its dunes.
On the coast, the cold current at the origin of the formation of the desert, is gorged with fish. A colony of more than 100,000 individual seals have settled on the immense Namib beach. The very high-resolution Pléiades Neo image shows them playing in the waves.
With its area of almost 50,000 km², the Namib-Naukluft National Park is larger than Switzerland. The aridity of the region builds unique landscapes. It offers an exceptional spectacle with the highest dunes in the world (almost 300 m high) and mountains with blood-red tones of dry savannah. The most visited tourist spot in the Namib Desert is Sossusvlei, a salt and clay desert where wind-driven sand dunes roll.
