This Namibian park has skyscraper-high dunes and a spectacular view of dawn

Our guide through the sands is maddening, at first.

His name is Kasiki Sigberth Kanyanga, and he says to call him Siggy. Just before sunrise, Siggy is leading us on a bus tour through the Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. Like the busloads of tourists whizzing past us, we are impatient to get to the base of the dunes. If we are early enough, there will be breathtaking views of impossibly high mounds of sand set against the breaking day.

We want to hurry. We want to catch sight of the tallest dune, Big Daddy, which at 325 meters (1,066 feet) is supposed to soar as high as a skyscraper. There’s also one called Big Mama. How tall is that one? we wonder.

But no. Siggy pulls us over to the side of the road. Instead of up, he wants us to look down – at spider, beetle, and termite tracks.

Light frustration builds. We think Siggy is stalling because he forgot to bring the coffee that he had promised for our breakfast later in the morning. And yet he is so passionate about what he’s pointing out, and his smile so endearing, that we, too, begin to get excited.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Siggy talks about the tiny beings that live in the dunes – including beetles, termites, ants, and the dancing white lady spider – and make tracks in the sand.

While the sun comes up, we begin to realize there was never any need to rush. In this national park (one of Africa’s vastest) and in this desert (which is said to be the world’s oldest), there is simply no reason to hurry. The dawn of a new day is spectacular in this place no matter what you are doing: looking up at a dune the height of a high-rise, or studying insect trails on the sandy horizon.

As our tour is ending, we hear Siggy cry out to no one in particular, “Oh no! Oh no!” And then comes his relief: “He’s alive.”

“Who is alive, Siggy?” I ask.

He points to a beetle he has scooped up in his hand. It was confirmation: Siggy’s techniques weren’t stalling, after all. In a country of elephants, oryxes, and giraffes, which loom so large in tourists’ minds, Siggy is in love with the smallest of beings. 

And as for the coffee? A half-hour into the tour, a colleague of Siggy’s had arrived with a thermos. Siggy – and the coffee – made for an unforgettable breakfast in the dunes. 

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Jerome Deborne, a tourist from Brussels, takes a break on a hot day in the middle of climbing Big Mama.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Tourists climb the Big Daddy Dune. Spectacular views, especially at daybreak, can be had at either the base or the top of these ocher-colored mounds of sand.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

A beetle scampers near the foot of Kasiki Sigberth “Siggy” Kanyanga, a guide who takes care to point out the smallest of creatures that inhabit the park.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Tourists enjoy some brunch before they climb another dune. Bus tours depart before daybreak to line up at the entrance to the national park.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

A jackal that is habituated to the tourists who flock to the Namib-Naukluft National Park hangs around a popular picnic spot near the dunes.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Footsteps lead to the Big Mama Dune, which is over 650 feet tall. The dunes’ color develops over time as iron in the sand is oxidized.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Tourists in the park walk back from a spot known as Deadvlei, which translates to “dead marsh.” The white clay pan sits amid some of the highest dunes in the world.