Rössing Mountain - Arandis, Namibia

Near Arandis in western Namibia, this camera looks out from Rössing Mountain across the gravel plains and rocky hills of the Namib Desert, a wide, empty landscape where the light changes from soft morning haze to harsh midday sun.

This is mining country. The nearby Rössing uranium mine began production in 1976 and is the longest-running, and one of the largest, open-pit uranium mines in the world, and today most of it is owned by the China National Uranium Corporation.

Arandis was built in 1978 to house the mine's workers and became a town in 1994. The Namib around it is one of the driest places on Earth, and much of its moisture arrives not as rain but as fog rolling in from the cold Atlantic.

Did You Know? The name Arandis comes from the Khoekhoe language and is said to mean "the place where people cry".

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