Namib-Skeleton Coast National Park Established

Namibia's entire 976-mile coastline is now all national parklands. The protected coastline consolidated three national parks: Skeleton Coast, Namib-Naukluft and Sperrgebiet.

Namibia has designated its 976-mile coastline as Namib-Skeleton Coast National Park. At 26.6 million acres, the parklands comprise an area larger than Portugal. Sperrgebiet, one of the three national parks that was consolidated, is home to the country's diamond mines and long closed to the public.

Namibia is the driest country in southern Africa and its national parks are desert and savannah. This image shows the Skeleton Coast, the northern section of the Namibia coast. Namibian Bushmen call the region the ''Land God Made in Anger.''

A population of lions has been re-established along the arid Skeleton Coast. The lion population had been extinguished in the 1980s by hunting and poisoning.

Black rhino and desert elephants follow the area's watercourses. There are also African penguins and a vast colony of Cape fur seals along the coast.

''The aim of the new park is to rein in environmentally damaging activities and encourage tourism,'' said Chris McIntyre, of the travel company Expert Africa.