"Africa is my favorite continent. And of the African countries, Namibia remains one of my favorites.” says world-renowned wildlife and landscape photographer Michael Poliza. View his photos to see why...
A flight in a hot-air balloon is an unforgettable experience that every visitor to Namibia should indulge in (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
The path snakes its way through the barren, uninhabited landscape (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
This limestone arch on the shores of the South Atlantic is 180 feet high. It is in the middle of the restricted diamond zone some 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Lüderitz (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
Kolmanskop: a piece of Prussia in Africa. Building materials and interiors were shipped from Hamburg for the grand homes. Too bad the German colonizers neglected to ask the locals if they approved (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
The great significance of cattle is reflected in the dress, hairstyle and aesthetic sensibilities of the Himba. The reddish sheen of the skin and hair stems from a paste which the girls and women apply to make their heads and bodies shimmer like the fur of a young calf (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
Elephant in the sandy desert on the Skeleton Coast. The elephants who live here are true masters of survival (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
Visitors have to be very lucky to catch the desert in bloom. This picture was taken in March 2006 after it rained for days (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
A bird’s-eye view of the dunes near Walvis Bay (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
The Empty Quarter is actually in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula, but the name would fit this landscape of sand dunes in the Kunene Region’s Skeleton Coast Park equally well (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
Seen from above, the Kunene looks almost like an oil painting; the beauty is unreal, with trees covering the green banks. The boat belongs to Serra Cafema Camp, the most beautiful lodge on the river (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
© Namibia by Michael Poliza, published by teNeues, £65 (www.teneues.com) The grassland of the NamibRand Nature Reserve stretches like a green sea against the hills of the Nubib mountain range (Photo © 2018 Michael Poliza. All rights reserved. www.michaelpoliza.com)
With a booming economy and stable democracy, things are going well in Namibia. Tourism plays a huge role in the country, with some 1.5 million travellers visiting each year to explore and enjoy the country’s phenomenal landscapes, wildlife, natural history, and its immense sense of space. This breathtaking Namibia book by New York Times-acclaimed photographer Michael Poliza captures some of the country’s most spectacular scenery, from the highest star dunes in the world around Sossusvlei to the NamibRand Nature Reserve, the Namib Desert, and the granite peaks of the Spitzkoppe. Taken from both the ground and the air, more than 100 photographs present the country’s nature and wildlife, as well as its indigenous peoples and their ways of life as cattle breeders and smallholder farmers. Poliza’s photographs also reveal the astonishing life of the desert, especially after rare rain fall. Oryx antelopes, jackals and giraffes, ostriches and springboks are there, where incredible plants also sprout up and in turn attract their predators; Namibia is also home to some of the “Big Five”: lions, leopards, elephants, and rhino, all sharing what little there is to go around in this arid, extraordinary, and delicate ecosystem.
Get the very best of Wanderlust by signing up to our newsletters, full of travel inspiration, fun quizzes, exciting competitions and exclusive offers.