1 destination · 10 things to do

Namibia

Namibia is the country where the desert meets the sea and the sky seems to go on for ever. This guide is built around two bases: Windhoek, the calm, orderly highland capital where most journeys begin, and Swakopmund, the German-flavoured seaside town on the Atlantic that has become the country's adventure capital. From them it books the headline experiences properly: the red dunes and white clay pan of Sossusvlei and Deadvlei, a 4x4 run along the dunes at Sandwich Harbour where the Namib drops straight into the ocean, a catamaran cruise from Walvis Bay among seals, dolphins and pelicans, a Living Desert walk to meet the small creatures of the dunes, quad biking and sandboarding, and a safari to the waterholes of Etosha. It adds the free and low-fee sights that fill a day well, from the seal colony at Cape Cross to a crystal gallery and museum in Swakopmund and Windhoek's Christuskirche and Independence Avenue. Then it matches you to the right bed, from a hilltop castle hotel above Windhoek to a beachfront hotel on Swakopmund's Mole, because distances here are long and where you sleep shapes how much of the road you drive.