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A vast expanse of a country, more than double the size of Germany, with a population density of just three people per square kilometers, and an incredible diversity of fauna—even in the most extreme environments.

With a booming economy and stable democracy, things are going well in Namibia. Tourism plays a huge role in the country, with some 1.5 million travellers visiting each year to explore and enjoy the country’s phenomenal landscapes, wildlife, natural history, and its immense sense of space. This breathtaking Namibia book by New York Times-acclaimed photographer Michael Poliza captures some of the country’s most spectacular scenery, from the highest star dunes in the world around Sossusvlei to the NamibRand Nature Reserve, the Namib Desert, and the granite peaks of the Spitzkoppe. Taken from both the ground and the air, more than 100 photographs present the country’s nature and wildlife, as well as its indigenous peoples and their ways of life as cattle breeders and smallholder farmers. Poliza’s photographs also reveal the astonishing life of the desert, especially after rare rain fall. Oryx antelopes, jackals and giraffes, ostriches and springboks are there, where incredible plants also sprout up and in turn attract their predators; Namibia is also home to some of the “Big Five”: lions, leopards, elephants, and rhino, all sharing what little there is to go around in this arid, extraordinary, and delicate ecosystem.

Life always shows MICHAEL POLIZA new paths: from actor to entrepreneur, from professional photographer to travel designer. After a career in the IT and Internet industries, Poliza started a three-year multimedia expedition on a ship around the world. In 2002, he settled in Cape Town, traveled the African plains and quickly became a world renowned wildlife and landscape photographer. The New York Times said of his work that “it could change the way you think about photography.” Captivated by the beauty of his work, friends of Poliza begin to ask if they can accompany him on his expeditions, and in 2011, he founded the company MICHAEL POLIZA PRIVATE TRAVEL, which tailors very special adventure trips to the most beautiful and untouched places.

GÜNTER KAST is a freelance journalist. He lives southwest of Munich in Herrsching am Ammersee. He has reported from approximately 90 countries around the world (and counting), with bylines in the German daily papers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others. He is especially taken with Africa. Other than the nearly uninhabited open spaces, what fascinates him most about Namibia is the fact that the wildlife in the nature preserves in the northwest is able to roam freely, unhindered by fences.