Tsauchab

Tsauchab in Bethesda, east of Sesriem

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Tsauchab, an ephemeral river in the dry western part of Namibia, has its origin on the south side of the Naukluft Mountains. From there it runs to the west where it flows 80 miles through the Sesriem Canyon and eventually seeps after a total of 150 kilometers in the Sossusvlei in the Namib Sand Sea of without reaching the Atlantic.

Hydrology

The catchment area of ​​4000 km ² Tsauchab only includes and extends from the southern edge of the Naukluft in the east via the Sesriem Canyon west to Sossusvlei. The highest point of the catchment area lies in the Naukluft at 1900 meters, the endpoint in Sossusvlei to 690 meters. Annual rainfall in the catchment area varies from 0 mm up to 175 mm in Sossuvlei on the slopes of the Naukluft. Only in 60 % of the catchment area is the annual rainfall of about 100 mm. The rainfall in the hinterland are rare and very sporadically, but can occasionally result in large quantities of water, so that the rain water is forced through the sand and the Tsauchab reached the Sossusvlei, which is then filled up to 18 months with water. Several days a year passes from the Benguela Current in the Atlantic Ocean off of the Namib Sand Sea fog in to Sesriem. The precipitating on the dunes moisture forms the livelihood for some grasses and insects.

Vegetation and fauna

23% of the catchment area are in the range of dwarf shrub savannah, 68 % in the semi-desert savannah transition zone, and 9 % in the Central Namib. Along the entire Tsauchabs to Sossusvlei there is a more or less lush gallery forest, mainly camel- thorn (Acacia erioloba ), ring- sleeve (Acacia tortilis ) and in the upper reaches of different fig species ( Ficus spp.) Composed. In the area of Sossusvlei, there are dense stands of! Nara, on the dunes of loose vegetation Stipagrostis sabulicola whose dense and spread- root network is able to capture fast out of the fog precipitating moisture.

The wildlife is limited because of the high aridity in spite of the vegetation on springbok, oryx, as well as small mammals and insects. If the Sossusvlei filled with water, flamingos may settle there.

Use and settlement

The land above Sesriem is owned by 40 private farms, but they are specialized primarily on hunting and luxury tourism and operate no agriculture. The remaining 22 % of the catchment area fall within the Namib- Naukluft National Park. The Sesriem Canyon and Sossusvlei with its high sand dunes are among the most important tourist attractions of Namibia.

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