Tag Archives: Namibia

Namib Desert, Namibia

If there is one thing I take home with me from the recent trip to Namibia it is the sand – literally. Even in the final days of the trip when we were inland at Spitzkoppe, I found myself suddenly chewing sand that had miraculously appeared from nowhere, and after cleaning out the camera bag on the last night I still managed to shower the lady sitting in the seat in front of me on the plane home with it when placing the bag in the overhead storage bins.

Sand was unavoidable as we spent the bulk of the trip in the Namib Desert, a coastal desert that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the more habitable inland for the entire length of the Namibian coast. It is considered to be most likely the oldest desert on Earth and, with dunes rising to over 300 metres and 32 km long, one with the second largest dunes. Like most deserts, the temperatures vary from unbearably hot during the day to bitterly cold at night. And, like most deserts, it is a beautiful, ever-changing landscape.

This shot was taken when returning from a night shoot at Deadvlei – a forest of trees that died approximately 600 years ago but did not decompose due to the arid air of the surrounding desert. What remains are the desiccated skeletons of the trees. By 6AM the light was too bright for the astrophotography we were doing and we spent an hour in the pre-dawn light before heading back to the jeep. As we were leaving the first visitors were arriving and some were heading up the dune just as sunrise fell across the land setting fire to the red sands.

Namib Desert Dune

 

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