Repeated surveying of two sites on a Namib linear dune between 1980 and 2001 provides a 21‐year record of dune surface change. The surveys confirm the view that the dunes are not inactive relics but are responding to the present‐day wind regime. They also provide no evidence that the dunes are migrating laterally. Examination of wind data for the survey period provides some evidence that the form of the crest of the dunes is actively responding to the natural year‐by‐year climate variability, such that an increase in the frequency of easterly winds leads to the development of a double‐crested form while fewer easterly winds lead to a single‐crested form. Keywords: aeolian geomorphology, linear dune, Namib Desert, dune dynamics.