Angiolo Manetti's Image

Undeterred by the turbulence shaking his tiny Cessna plane, Angiolo surveyed the beautiful scene unfolding below him. The endless dunes of the Namib Desert glimmered and glowed as the last of the day’s light filtered through the clouds. Each ray illuminated a bewitching pattern, ‘like the painting of a great artist’.

The Namib is one of the world’s biggest and oldest deserts – at least 55 million years old – and is largely devoid of surface water. Yet if you look closely, the smooth contours of the sand are roughened with vegetation. These plants are able to survive on groundwater and moisture from fog swept inland from the coast.