This is the first of what will be several posts from my recent journey around Namibia.

Dead Vlei, in the Namib Desert, is an awe-inspiring place. About 900 years ago, gigantic sand dunes fully surrounded what was once a shallow pool from river flooding. The water dried up.... the trees died. And so they remain for hundreds of years, skeletal and unable to decompose due to the intense heat.

I visited this place twice, once at sunset and then I just had to return for the following sunrise, which was even better.