Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei is, for many visitors, the single most photogenic spot in Namibia. It sits within the Namib-Naukluft National Park, an area of protected desert and mountain larger than Switzerland, where towering rust-red dunes have been carved over centuries by wind and the underground Tsauchab River. Climb one at dawn before the heat sets in, and the surrounding NamibRand Nature Reserve, a working conservation project in its own right, makes an excellent base for exploring further. It is one of those places that photographs well and lives up to it in person.