Namibia takes its name from The Namib Desert. Indeed, the name ‘Namib’ means ‘vast place’ which is the perfect way to describe the country. The desert itself is believed to have existed for at least 55 million years, making it the world’s oldest. It stretches for roughly 1,243 miles along the Atlantic coast of Africa, spanning Namibia, South Africa and Angola. In the local Nama language, Namib means ‘an area where there is nothing’. It has some of the highest sand dunes in the world, most notably in Sossusvlei. It is also home to the largest canyon in Africa, known as the Fish River Canyon. There is a lot of space in Namibia given its one of the least crowded countries on the planet. As of 2020 its population is estimated to be 2.5 million inhabiting a country that is 318,261 square miles in size. To put that in context England has a population of approximately 56 million (as of 2020) inhabiting 50,337 square miles. Namibia’s population speak a total of 30 different languages. While English is the official language less than 1% of the country’s population speak it as their first language. Nearly half the population speaks Oshiwambo dialects, while the other main languages are Afrikaans, Herero and German.