The park cov­ers an area of 19,216 square miles (49,768 sq km) cre­at­ing the largest nation­al park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world. It is a renowned park fea­tur­ing the splen­dor of the Namib Desert. The Namib Desert is at the heart of the nation­al park. As the old­est desert in the world, it dis­plays bril­liant­ly col­ored sand dunes that are con­sid­ered some of the largest in the world. The land­scapes include remark­able moun­tains, nat­u­ral­ly carved canyons, tremen­dous grav­el plains, and tow­er­ing and cap­ti­vat­ing sand dunes. Salt and clay pans are icon­ic attrac­tions in the nation­al park. Sos­susvlei, Hid­den­vlei, and Dead­vlei are three of the most vis­it­ed pans. Sos­susvlei is the most renowned, how­ev­er, all three are known to home to wildlife that is attract­ed to the salt. Along with the dunes, the park is char­ac­ter­ized by rocky out­crops and rock for­ma­tions that are local­ly known as kop­jes and insel­bergs. These rock for­ma­tions are usu­al­ly com­prised of gran­ite, feldspar, and sand­stone. As the desert moves clos­er to the shore­line, the ter­rain is char­ac­ter­ized by lagoons, mud­flats, and wet­lands. This ter­rain and veg­e­ta­tion attract hun­dreds of thou­sands of birds cre­at­ing a birdwatcher’s haven.