Friedrich Martin Joseph  Welwitsch (1806 – 1872) was the distinguished figure destined to bring to the attention of the world one of the most extraordinary curiosities of all living organisms. This plant would arouse more interest and produce more surprises than any of the other 375’000 species known to man. It seems to bear kinship only with a prehistoric flora known today as fossil remains. Yet somehow it still survives….an anachronism…. a relic of flora long past… a LIVING fossil!! No less unique is the phenomenon of the Welwitschia’s habitat. It occurs in isolated colonies confined to the Namib Desert, generally within a narrow 100 km-wide coastal belt and nowhere else in the world! Individual Welwitschia plants are estimated to be upwards of 2,500 years old, have crowns of more than 3 feet (1 m) in diameter, and leaves that stretch up to 6 feet (2 m) long. With leaves that curl into fantastic shapes along the ground, this plant is considered to be the longest-living member of the plant kingdom

This desolate and forbidding valley of conical and dome shaped hills near Swakopmund is reminiscent of an actual lunar landscape, resembling the lifeless surface of mars itself. The Moonlandscape represents the leftover of an ancient, enormous mountain range. During more severe weather patterns, the valleys of the mountain range as well as the mountain range itself has been chafed, chiseled and gouged by wind and the waters of the nowadays known Swakop River. Known as “badland topography”, the crumbling granite surface hardly supports any plant life and is best viewed in the late afternoon to enjoy terrific light and shadow contrasts and cooler temperatures.