Karoo Supergroup of the country, and in the Lebombo mountains along the Mozambique border. Once the layer of hard lava was eroded away, the softer Karoo sediments over the rest of the basin eroded even faster. However, the dolerite sills resisted erosion, protecting the softer Beaufort and Ecca shales beneath them. This created numerous and widespread flat topped hills, known as Karoo Koppies ("koppie" being the Afrikaans term for hill), which are iconic of the Karoo, and, by extension, the South African landscape. The dykes, or vertical fissures which brought the lava to the surface stand out today as linear ridges extending
Namaqua National Park km². The park is semi-desert, with hot and dry summers and cold winters with variable, generally sparse rainfall. Most precipitation occurs between May and August. The eastern part of the park receives more rainfall than the west. The park is located in Namaqualand, which lies within the Succulent Karoo. Namaqualand has an area covering 55,000 hectares, located in the northwest corner of Northern Cape Province. The park is part of the semi-desert Succulent Karoo biome, one of the most unusual biomes in the world. This biome is a biodiversity hotspot with the greatest biodiversity and the highest concentration of succulent