This 3½-hour (280km) journey takes you southwards from the capital city to the Kalahari Desert and to the stylish Kalahari Anib Lodge, surrounded by burnt-sienna sand. The Kalahari is characterised by burnished dune hills dotted with butter-coloured grass and dark-green camelthorn trees - which often support sprawling sociable weaver nests - accentuated against red sand and a deep blue sky. The magnificent landscape is home to the handsome desert-adapted oryx, ostrich, springbok, black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox and the kori bustard, the largest flying bird. Highlights of a Kalahari stay include the afternoon drive into the desert when the sinking sun sets the sand aglow in fiery colour.