Fairy circle, NamibRand Nature Reserve

Fairy circles are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 2 and 15 metres in diameter, often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass. Until 2014, the phenomenon was only known to occur in the arid grasslands of the Namib desert in western parts of Southern Africa, being particularly common in Namibia. In that year, ecologists were alerted to similar rings of vegetation outside of Africa, in a part of the Pilbara in Western Australia. ()