Just outside of Swakopmund, on the western coast of Namibia, you'll find The Welwtschia Plains in Nabib-Naukluft Park. The scenic drive gives you an excelent opportunity to discover all the "small" things, that you wouldn't normally see with your bare eye - Or it simple teaches you a thing or two about the desert.

Around the Namib area the mist from the sea, moves in over the desert at night. That mist helps the lichens survive. The lichens are actually more extensive here than anywhere else in the world, because of the misty nights.

Actually I learned that there is more than 100 different kind of litchens and just by taking the grand view over the desert, you will not be able to see the them, but if you look very close to the ground, you'll be able to see the lichens. Often it's mistaken for black soil. But the lichens helps to stabilise the soil.

- Who would have thought that there are so many lichens in the desert?