The Coastal Strip, Namibia

Heading North along the coast, Swakopmund is Namibia's coastal playground with desert in the background and blue ocean views. The town itself is full of old-world charm with lush green gardens and palm trees, not to mention the excellent coffees shops selling delicious German cakes and pastries. Adventure activities abound- from sand boarding and quad-biking to sea kayaking and hot air balloon trips. Nearby Walvis Bay features a lagoon with prolific bird life including flamingos and a resident seal reserve.

The desolate northern coastline, strewn with shipwrecks and whale bones, is known aptly as the Skeleton Coast. The landscape includes long-ranging vistas of windswept dunes to rugged canyons with walls richly coloured by volcanic rock and extensive mountain ranges. Aventure-lovers will be in heaven here with quad-biking, ocean cruises, paragliding, skydiving camel rides into the desert on offer.

Inland you will find Twyfelfontein, an extensive open-air gallery of rock-art featuring thousands of engravings, all protected by World Heritage Status. Close by is the Petrified Forest where a cataclysmic event millions of years ago deposited giant tree trunks which subsequently turned to stone.

Damaraland is a true wilderness with scenic desert vistas and dramatic mountain views- even the resident elephants have adapted to survive on the stark plains.