The Kaokoveld region, covering north-western Namibia and south-western Angola, is one of the remotest areas in southern Africa. Although it’s extremely dry, it is a centre of species endemism: many species occur only there and nowhere else on earth.
New species continue to be found, especially in the Ovahimba mountain range, which runs parallel to the cold Atlantic ocean and is separated from it by the gravel plains and dunes of the northern Namib Desert.
The highest mountain peaks of this range are so inhospitable and difficult to access, because of the lack of roads and water, that few have ever scaled them. The exceptions are local herders of the semi-nomadic Himba, who drive their cattle and goats to richer pastures in the mountains during dry periods.
