Rise and shine, you are getting up at first light to be in the Namib Desert during the cool and beautiful morning hours! First stop: Dune 45. Hiking up this dune can be daunting when standing at the bottom, but it is absolutely worth is when you get to the top. You don't even have to go all the way up, the view of the glistering dunes and salt pans is unforgettable from halfway as well. 

After this sporty start, you drive deeper into the desert. Keep your eyes peeled to spot Gemsbok (also known as Oryx) along the way, perhaps the most beautiful antelope of Southern Africa and a photographer's dream! A 4x4 trail and another short hike leads you to the Deadvlei: a dried out pan with dark ancient dead tries that stick out against the white pan and the bright orange dunes around it. Here you will feel like you are in a surrealistic dream, or a painting from Dali!

The Tsauchab River has shaped the Sesriem Canyon over millions of years, and it is one of the few places in this area that holds water all year round. The early Afrikaans explorers in the region named the canyon after the fact that they had to use six (“ses”) leather straps (“riem”) tied together to create a rope long enough to lower buckets into the canyon below, in order to fetch water.