Sometimes, to really see something, you have to get further away, not closer. And when something is really, really big, you have to get so far away from it that your feet are no longer touching the ground. This is the only way to really appreciate the vastness of Namibia, with its seas – oceans – of russet and gold dunes, punctuated by unexplained fairy circles, isolated mountains and the odd, hot oryx.
A safari is normally characterised by trying to get nearer – tracking something down, pursuing it, getting the long lenses out. But a flying safari is about being just far enough away to make out the horizon beyond the mountains, to watch the coastal fog creeping up behind the dunes, to observe the earth becoming an abstract artwork of shadow and light, the known and the unknown.
What words cannot capture, pictures can. This is what Namibia looks like from the air.
A typical Namibian river – a dry bed flanked by vegetation
The “fairy circles” of the Namib Desert remain unexplained – were they caused by termites, fungus or spirits?
The Eduard Bohlen ran aground in 1909, off Namibia’s notoriously treacherous Skeleton Coast.It now lies several hundred metres inland.
The colours of the salt works in Walvis Bay
Flat-topped mountains in Damaraland, northwestern Namibia
A lone camelthorn tree battles to survive in the Namib, the world’s oldest desert.
The Namib’s strange formations of coloured sand and rock are only visible from the air
The endless dunes of the Skeleton Coast
The colours of the lagoon at Sandwich Harbour create an abstract painting when viewed from above
Sand spits, salt flats and algae create abstract works of art in Sandwich Bay lagoon
A flock of flamingoes is seen from above, flying over Sandwich Harbour, before the rainy season lures them inland
Flamingoes trace their flight paths in the algae of Sandwich Harbour lagoon
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