TRAVEL

Photos: Namibia’s Wild Places

Journey through Namibia’s beautiful landscapes with these photos submitted by our readers

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Lightning strikes the dunes of the Namib Desert, Namibia. Photograph by Richard Sidey, Wanaka, New Zealand
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Cheetah close-up, Namibia. Photograph by Elaine Fox-Packer, Frimley, United Kingdom
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Herd of zebra at a watering hole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Photograph by Dan Gindling, San Diego, CA
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Trees and sand dunes in Dead Vlei ("Dead Marsh"), Namib-Naukluft Park, Nambia. Photograph by Rex Naden, Los Gatos, CA
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Young boy watching his herd of goats, Damaraland, Namibia. Photograph by Hal Schneider, San Diego, CA
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A leopard stares down a crimson-breasted shrike. Photograph by James Kobacker, Gahanna, OH
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Sossusvlei, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Photograph by Monica Nogueira, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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A namaqua chameleon snags a tasty beetle larva in the Namib Desert, Namibia. Photograph by Beverly Houwing, Beverly Hills, CA
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Walking on a sand dune, Sossusvlei, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Photograph by Maurice Schutgens, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
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A lone acacia tree stands in the burnt sienna sands of the Namibian desert, Sossusvlei, Namibia. This photo was a 2012 Photo Contest Finalists. Photograph by Bob Bush, Altadena, CA
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A caracal stands on a tree as the sun sets, Namibia. Photograph by Beverly Houwing, Beverly Hills, CA
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A shallow pan of sea water, colored white by evaporated sea water and red from abundant krill, at Walvis Bay, Namibia. Photograph by N Wain-Lowe, Ancaster, Canada

Whether you love beautiful scenery or wildlife, Namibia may be the location to plan your next vacation. It is home to the Namib Desert, considered the oldest desert in the world, and is filled with national parks and reserves. Some, including Etosha National Park, are dedicated to wildlife; others focus on beautiful landscapes. Namib-Naukluft Park, the largest conservation area in Africa and the fourth largest in the world, features the country's most famous and photogenic natural wonders: towering, 300-meter-tall red sand dunes, the largest in the world. Namibia, one of the first countries in the world to incorporate environmental protection into its constitution, received the Gift to the Earth Award from the World Wildlife Fund this past October for conservation acheivements.

Photos submitted by our readers to our annual photo contest.

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Erin Corneliussen is a multimedia intern at Smithsonian.com.