Between Namibe and the desert interior, across the gravel plains east and south of the city, grow specimens of Welwitschia mirabilis — one of the world's most extraordinary plants. This prehistoric gymnosperm, a living fossil from the Jurassic era, grows nowhere else on earth in the same abundance. It looks like a collapsed octopus: two immense leathery leaves, split and tattered by wind and age, spread across the gravel like a giant tongue.
A four-wheel drive is needed to reach the best specimens. Local guides and some Namibe hotels can arrange excursions. The drive into the desert is itself remarkable — the landscape shifts from arid scrub to pure gravel desert, with mountains in the distance and almost no sign of human activity.