'Aus'

I have incredible memories of Aus (like 'house', with a silent 'h') from last time, a tiny settlement in the middle of the driest part of the country.

The drive there is breath-taking. For hundreds of kilometres on unpaved road you pass down from a high plateaux through plains of sun-dried yellow grass. On the horizon on either side, table-topped mountains rise to hundreds of metres and in parts, the grass gives way to the start of the red dune sea. Oryx, springbok and ostriches appear now and again, and the whole sun-bleached landscape shimmers in the heat.

It's Africa just as you imagine it - spectacular, harsh and never-ending, and no photograph or description does it justice. It's also one of my favourite places in the world, and seeing it the second time was every bit as good as the first.