Namib Dawn

When I first saw the balloon, I wasn’t prepared for the sheer size of the envelope or the demonic roar of the gas burner. Modern hot air balloons have come a long way since the Chinese first used airborne lanterns for military signalling in or around 250 AD. The first unmanned European flight, by the Montgolfier brothers in Annonay, France, in 1783, lasted just 10 minutes. This photograph, taken in January 2016, shows one of the balloons operated by Namib Sky in the Sossusvlei region of Namibia.