Amazing Pictures Show Life In One of Earth's Oldest Deserts

For photographer Thomas Peschak, whose job it is to capture images of the unique and the unexplored, the concept of adventure can almost become routine. Yet Namibia is a destination that he considers unrivaled in its mystery. He calls it “Planet Namibia” and says is the closest he might get to space travel.

Peschak is no stranger to this harsh climate. The vast desert landscape is his self-described “creative sanctuary,” and he’s traveled there 16 times in the last 20 years. “It is a place I hold dear to me."

Peschak has technically lived in South Africa for over two decades, yet admits that most of his time has been spent internationally, much of it underwater. Namibia is his way to reconnect with the continent that he calls home, and a place he visits to find a playfulness in his craft, away from the regimented nature of assignment work.

Road tripping around Namibia is never much of a production for Peschak – he's just looking forward to whatever it is he will see on the way. “It’s much more off the cuff…it’s much more street photography,” he says. You just have to allow yourself to be surprised.

Peschak describes the country as a kaleidoscope of life, where its unique inhabitants have had 55 million years to adapt to the environment of the harsh, ancient Namib desert which is one of the oldest in existence.

The cold waves of the Atlantic ocean provide a vital source of life for Namibian wildlife. The coastal desert can go years without ever seeing a drop of rain. Banks of fog begin to form on the shore, and overnight they drift into the desert where they deposit water droplets on every grain of sand.

Peschak has spent weeks driving along this coast and through the deserts of Namibia, purposefully getting lost and losing himself in the process. He says in a world that continues to become more sanitized and constrictive, Namibia is a wild expanse where Peschak says you can explore and feel like you’re the only person on the planet. “That doesn’t happen very often anymore."