英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)力：自然百科 納米比亞的野生世界

From the air, Namibia looks almost uninhabited. Boom towns near depleted diamond mines lie abandoned. Shipwrecks dock the beaches of the skeleton coast. Salt pans, the largest in Africa, reflect sterile white light. 1,200 feet high sand dunes crest over empty wastes. The great sprawling Namib Desert stretches some 1,000 miles. No life seems to exist as far as the eye can see. But that's only from the air.

On the ground, life has adapted to this extreme environment. An early morning fog carries water across the sands. Beetles race to the top of dunes to collect moisture. This green-gazeadder sips dewdrops from its skin. Soon, the temperatures rise with the sun. To minimize contact with the hot desert sand, the adder side winds its way at the dune. A four-legged relative employs a similar technique. Burying under the sand can help avoid the heat, and help find a meal. The desert has many opportunities if you know where to look.

Further along the coast, thousands of fur seals hunt for food in the south Atlantic. These beaches are the breeding grounds for the fur seals, and the hunting grounds for jackals and brownhyenas, also known as strand wolves. They will strike at any pup left unguarded or alone, then retreat back into the desert.

In the interior, Salt Pans Harbor—— Namibia's most famous national park, Etosha. Animals of all shapes and sizes flock to the springs around salt pan's edge. The waters attract the thirsty and the hungry.

Wherever there is water, there is life. Deserts become forests; cities bloom; people and animals collide. But there is room enough for both in the wild open spaces of wild Namibia.