Etosha National Park

Etosha has been famed for its wealth of rare animal life for more than 100 years – it was first proclaimed a game reserve way back in 1907! Today, the region, which encompasses dry and cracked salt pans and the labyrinthine valleys of the Leopard Hills (stalked by their eponymous beast, of course), is the safari kingpin of the country. Come and spy out the African bush elephants and plains zebras at the watering holes, get a glimpse of the uber-rare black rhino, or witness the springing springbok.

Sossusvlei

Set deep in the territories of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, where the scorching African sun beats down and sidewinder snakes drift over the undulations of sand, the salt pan known as Sossusvlei is beset by huge, hulking dunes some of the highest in the world, it’s a place to take the breath away. These sculpted sections of desert shift in the winds and some parts like the colossal mound of Dune clock up whopping heights of more than 350 meters above sea level. 4X4 tours are the most popular way to see the sights, and visitors can expect the likes of antelope and oryx, springbok and ostrich.

Twyfelfontein

Located in the midst of the dusty Kunene Region in the very heart of northern Namibia, Twyfelfontein is famed as the home of some of Africa’s most prolific displays of ancient rock art. It’s spread over a series of more than 16 individual sites, each exhibiting their own curious anthropomorphic petroglyphs. The area itself rarely fails to take the breath away with its patchwork of soaring table mountains and rolling savannah plains.

Namib-Naukluft National Park

Naukluft is seemingly endless sea of sand. Namib-Naukluft National Park is certainly worth a second mention on account of the wealth of other bucket-list-busting must-sees that exist between its boundaries. Take Deadvlei; a cracked and withered landscape of sun-scorched acacia trees (some thought to be as much as 700 years old!) and mud flats. Closer to the beaches and the town of Swakopmund, the landscapes become truly otherworldly, as the parched plains rise to ridgebacks that resemble the maned spine of a stalking hyena!

Walvis Bay

Thanks to its tactical position on the Atlantic coast, with access to one of the finest deep water harbors this side of the Cape of Good Hope, Walvis Bay has been a plaything for the historic superpowers in the African theater of war. The city is one of the top tourist draws in all of Namibia. Walvis Bay has kitesurfing along its beaches, oodles of fishing opportunities, tour organizers touting excursions to the bird-rich islands out at sea, and sand boarding on the dunes of the Namib Desert.

The Fish River Canyon

The Canyon winds and weaves between the great mountains of southern Africa in truly majestic fashion. Red-hued rocks tower atop the valley bottom, pits of deep sand and colossal boulders spot the landscape, and the sunsets glow blood-red against the rugged ranges known as the Three Sisters. For intrepid travelers, the hiking path that runs the length of this great wonder can hardly be resisted. It crosses high passes and arduous tracts of dusty lands, covering a mega 88 kilometers from start to finish.