Photos: Along the Namibian Coast

From the Skeleton Coast in the north to the Orange River in the south, Namibia has nearly a thousand miles of coastline. For much of that distance, the windblown dunes of the Namib Desert reach right to the pounding surf of the Atlantic Ocean, leaving a stark yet beautiful landscape. Shaped by the winds and largely unpopulated, Namibia’s coastal area is home to only a handful of towns and villages. Shipwrecks lie in place for decades, slowly reclaimed by the sea or the desert. In places, fur seals gather in huge numbers, mostly free from harassment. Collected here, a look at Namibia’s picturesque shores and dunes, its wildlife, and some remaining evidence of its time as a German colony.

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