Namibia

A vast expanse of a country, more than double the size of Germany, with a population density of just three people per square kilometers, and an incredible diversity of fauna—even in the most extreme environments. 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.