UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Namibia
Namibia has 2 sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List (1 cultural and 1 natural), the first inscribed in 2007 (Twyfelfontein). The map below plots every one of them alongside the rest of the List, and each site is written up in full further down the page.
- World Heritage Sites
- 2
- Cultural
- 1
- Natural and Mixed
- 1
- First Inscribed
- 2007
Map of World Heritage Sites in Namibia
CulturalNaturalMixedIn DangerLarge dots are in Namibia. Click a dot to read about the site.
Twyfelfontein
Namibia · 20.5956° S, 14.3726° E · 1 km²
Twyfelfontein (Afrikaans: uncertain spring), officially known as ǀUi-ǁAis (Damara/Nama: jumping waterhole), is a site of ancient rock engravings in the Kunene Region of north-western Namibia. It consists of a spring in a valley flanked by the slopes of a sandstone table mountain that receives very little rainfall and has a wide range of diurnal temperatures.
The site has been inhabited for 6,000 years, first by hunter-gatherers and later by Khoikhoi herders. Both ethnic groups used it as a place of worship and a site to conduct shamanist rituals. In the process of these rituals at least 2,500 items of rock carvings have been created, as well as a few rock paintings. Displaying one of the largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs in Africa, UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site in 2007.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Twyfelfontein (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Why Twyfelfontein Is Listed
- (iii)
- A unique testimony to a cultural tradition or civilisation.
- (v)
- An outstanding example of traditional human settlement or land use.
More about Twyfelfontein
UNESCO's Description
Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes has one of the largest concentrations of [...] petroglyphs, i.e. rock engravings in Africa. Most of these well-preserved engravings represent rhinoceros, . The site also includes six painteelephant, ostrich and giraffe, as well as drawings of human and animal footprintsd rock shelters with motifs of human figures in red ochre. The objects excavated from two sections, date from the Late Stone Age. The site forms a coherent, extensive and high-quality record of ritual practices relating to hunter-gatherer communities in this part of southern Africa over at least 2,000 years, and eloquently illustrates the links between the ritual and economic practices of hunter-gatherers.
From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).
History
Twyfelfontein valley has been inhabited by Stone-age hunter-gatherers of the Wilton stone age culture group since approximately 6,000 years ago. They made most of the engravings and probably all the paintings. 2,000 to 2,500 years ago the Khoikhoi, an ethnic group related to the San (Bushmen), occupied the valley, then known under its Damara/Nama name ǀUi-ǁAis (jumping waterhole). The Khoikhoi also produced rock art which can clearly be distinguished from the older engravings.
The area was uninhabited by Europeans until after World War II, when a severe drought caused white Afrikaans speaking farmers (Boers) to move in. The farm was later procured by the apartheid government as part of the Odendaal Plan and became part of the Damaraland bantustan. The white settlers left in 1965.
Location and description
Twyfelfontein is situated in the southern Kunene Region of Namibia, an area formerly known as Damaraland. The site lies on the banks of the Aba Huab River in the Huab valley of the Mount Etjo formation. The rocks containing the art work are situated in a valley flanked by the slopes of a sandstone table mountain. An underground aquifer on an impermeable layer of shale sustains a spring in this otherwise very dry area.
The name Twyfelfontein refers to the spring itself, to the valley containing the spring, and in the context of traveling and tourism also to a greater area containing nearby tourist attractions: the rock engravings, the Organ Pipes, Burnt Mountain, Doros crater, and the Petrified Forest. The World Heritage Site covers the area of rock engravings.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Twyfelfontein (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Namib Sand Sea
Namibia · 24.8853° S, 15.4078° E · 30,777 km²
Namib Sand Sea is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog. Covering an area of over three million hectares and a buffer zone of 899,500 hectares, the site is composed of two dune systems, an ancient semi-consolidated one overlain by a younger active one. The desert dunes are formed by the transportation of materials thousands of kilometres from the hinterland, that are carried by river, ocean current and wind. It features gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, inselbergs within the sand sea, a coastal lagoon and ephemeral rivers, resulting in a landscape of exceptional beauty. Fog is the primary source of water in the site, accounting for a unique environment in which endemic invertebrates, reptiles and mammals adapt to an ever-changing variety of microhabitats and ecological niches.
Description from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).
Why Namib Sand Sea Is Listed
- (vii)
- Superlative natural phenomena or exceptional natural beauty.
- (viii)
- An outstanding example of major stages of the Earth's history.
- (ix)
- An outstanding example of ongoing ecological and biological processes.
- (x)
- The most important natural habitats for conserving biodiversity.
World Heritage in Namibia: Quick Answers
- How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in Namibia?
- Namibia has 2 World Heritage Sites: 1 cultural and 1 natural.
- What was the first World Heritage Site in Namibia?
- Twyfelfontein, inscribed in 2007. The most recent is Namib Sand Sea, inscribed in 2013.
- What are the natural World Heritage Sites in Namibia?
- Namib Sand Sea.
- Are any World Heritage Sites in Namibia in danger?
- None of the World Heritage Sites in Namibia is on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.