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The only permanent rivers are the Kunene (Cunene), the Okavango (Cubango), the Mashi (Kwando), and the Zambezi on the northern border

and the Orange on the southern. Only the northern frontier—and not all of it—is readily passable. The coastal Namib desert,

the treacherous reefs and shoals of the coast (half aptly named the “Skeleton Coast”), the near deserts along the Orange River,

and the dry Kalahari region to the east explain the late conquest of Namibia and form a geographic frame around the country.

Namibia is divided from west to east into three main topographic zones: the coastal Namib desert, the Central Plateau, and the Kalahari.

The Namib is partly rocky and partly (in the central stretch) dunes. While having complex flora and fauna, it is a fragile and sparsely covered environment unsuitable for pastoral or agricultural activities. Diamonds (probably washed down from the Basotho highlands with the Orange River) and uranium are found at  Oranjemund  in the south and Arandis in the centre. The Namib, 50 to 80 miles wide over most of its length, is constricted in the north where the  Kaokoveld , the western mountain scarp of the Central Plateau, abuts on the sea.

 The Central Plateau, which varies in altitude from 975 to 1,980 meters, is the core of the agricultural life of Namibia. In the north it abuts on the Kunene and Okavango river valleys and in the south on the Orange. Largely savanna and scrub, it is somewhat more wooded in parts of the north and is broken throughout by hills, mountains, ravines (including the massive Fish River Canyon), and salt pans (notably the Etosha Pan).  

Brandberg , also known as Mount Brand, is Namibia’s highest mountain [2,573 metres] and is located along the plateau’s western escarpment.

 In the east, Namibia slopes gradually downward, and the savanna merges into the Kalahari. In the north, hardpan and rock beneath the sand, 

in addition to more abundant river water and rainfall, make both herding and cultivation possible.
 

Only the border rivers are permanent. The Swakop and Kuiseb rivers rise on the plateau, descending on the western escarpment and die out in the Namib, except in rare flood years, when they reach the sea at Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, respectively. The Fish River rises in the Central Plateau and (seasonally) flows south to the Orange River. Various lesser rivers rise on the plateau and die out downstream in the Namib or Kalahari desert.