Few countries in Africa can match Namibia's sheer natural beauty. The country's name derives from its (and the world's) oldest desert, the Namib, and there are few more stirring desert realms on the planet – from the stunning sand sea and perfect dead-tree valleys at Sossusvlei to the otherworldliness of sand dunes plunging down to the ocean at Sandwich Harbour and the Skeleton Coast. Inland, running through the heart of the country, a spine of mountains creates glorious scenery.