When late afternoon falls and the day comes to a close in Southern Namibia, a ritual begins: the sundowner.

Prepare yourself by four-wheeling it to an overlook, high perch, or just about anywhere you can catch the sunset bathe the vastness of the Namibian desert landscape.

Then wait. Particularly if you are the guest of a discerning guide, your patience comes paired with a gin & tonic in one hand and a few bits of biltong (salted, dried meat) in the other. Simple and mildly decadent.

As the sun sets over the petrified dunes in the Namib desert, the colors turn to deep, bright reds and pinks as if by water color brush. But it's just after the sun dips below the horizon that the performance really begins, winding along the color wheel to a finish where the desert blushes in twilight afterglow.

It's something you'll come to look forward to each evening while carving your way through the reaches of the Namibian desert.

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It’s just past dawn and as the sun begins its arc, the Namib Desert sand dunes turn from tinted pink to deep orange. The contrast between the cloudless blue sky and the dune's edge becomes a clear line in starkness. In this early morning, there's a narrow window of time until the angle of the sun and the heat of the desert strip away the crispness and the vibrance in one of the world's oldest deserts.

On the edge of that window, we arrive at Big Daddy Dune. We scramble up its side, following the deepening footsteps of others who've come before us. The sand beneath our feet originates from the Kalahari and dates to more than 50 million years ago. In its timelessness, it's so fine that we sink down, back and in as we trace the dune’s edge. From a distance or up close, we are mere caricatures moving, sinking in motion.

Take a look at what it feels like to be on top of the dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. Squeal like a child when you do. We did. And trust me, it felt good.

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