Red Sand Dune Dead Tree, Deadvlei, Sossusvlei, Namibia

Barren beauty

A soft backdrop of sand dunes, a sheet-white clay floor, and the scraggly mummies of camel thorn trees all add to the sheer eerie beauty of Deadvlei. Preserved by the intense heat and dryness of the deep Namib desert, the trees in this now-parched marsh have been dead for more than half a millennium. All that breaks the stillness is the wind as it stirs the 100-story dunes surrounding the basin—and occasional passing wildlife, from tiny toktokkie beetles to stocky gemsbok.