The Namib Desert on the west coast of southern Africa is a very dry desert which is believed to be of considerable antiquity. It is underlain by a fossilized sand sea called the Tsondab Sandstone Formation. Modern dunes include barchans and transverse ridges at the coast and large linear and star dunes further inland. The sand, which is derived from the coast, rivers such as the Orange, and from weathering of bedrock, becomes progressively redder as one moves inland. Keywords: Barchans, linear dunes, Namib, star dunes.