Sediments from presently vegetated linear dune ridges in the Caprivi Strip of northern Namibia are optically dated to assess the timing of dune building phases, and aridity, in the late Quaternary. The dunes have been constructed from sediments likely to have been initially transported into the area by fluvial processes. Dune sediments do not preserve obvious evidence of hiatuses in deposition in the dated period 48-121 ka, but continuous deposition (and therefore continuous aridity) is considered unlikely given differences in dated phases compared with chronologies from western Zimbabwe (to the southeast) and western Zambia (to the north) that include ages derived from the same equivalent sampling depthsSediments from presently vegetated linear dune ridges in the Caprivi Strip of northern Namibia are optically dated to assess the timing of dune building phases, and aridity, in the late Quaternary. The dunes have been constructed from sediments likely to have been initially transported into the area by fluvial processes. Dune sediments do not preserve obvious evidence of hiatuses in deposition in the dated period 48-121 ka, but continuous deposition (and therefore continuous aridity) is considered unlikely given differences in dated phases compared with chronologies from western Zimbabwe (to the southeast) and western Zambia (to the north) that include ages derived from the same equivalent sampling depths.