Picturesque desert landscape against the starry night sky
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The simple ritual of “dusk”—quietly watching the transition from day to night—is spreading beyond its cultural home in the Netherlands, as travelers seek slower, more intimate ways to reconnect with the natural world.
What is “dusk?”
At first glance, the sundowner sounds similar to the classic “sundowner” popularized on African safaris and beach resorts. While both revolve around the sunset in some way, they represent very different experiences. Sunset is golden hour drinks, while Dusk is more of a back-to-nature trend (often called “sense” and “wellness” by marketing grads). According to the BBCdusk is a trend inspired by old Dutch twilight rituals, which encourage people to turn off screens, sit quietly and purposefully observe the fading of daylight into darkness. For astrologers, “dusk” is the act of being outside in the twilight, watching the stars appear as the window of night slowly opens and the night sky is revealed in all its glory. It can start, of course, at sunset.
Is ‘Dusking’ a new travel trend?
It was called a travel trend for 2026 along with cool cations (skiing and/or northern lights), train travel and urban cities (serving the bustling capitals to visit quieter second cities), dusk belongs to stargazing, astrotourism and the uncomfortable NocTourism (night tourism). However, like all these other travel trends for 2026, twilight isn’t anything new – it’s just new for a new generation.
Increasingly, sunset is being framed as a reaction against the hyper-curated “Instagram aesthetic” that dominated travel culture during the 2010s. Instead of chasing viral views and posting heavily edited clichéd sunset photos, travelers are now seeking calmer, more reflective moments rooted in atmosphere and place.
Dusk is a trend inspired by the old twilight rituals of the Netherlands, which encourages people to turn off screens, sit quietly and deliberately observe the fading of daylight into darkness – starting at sunset.
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A new ‘Global Dusk Index’
According to a new global twilight index from Holaflythe best place in the world to experience this transition may not be where social media directs tourists. The study ranked 29 destinations using NASA atmospheric data, clear-sky frequency, humidity, aerosol density and the length of golden hour (the period of soft, diffused light and long shadows just before sunset) to determine where the natural conditions for sunset are scientifically strongest.
Does the surprise stand out? Namibia — a destination with only a fraction of the online visibility of some destinations, but near-perfect weather conditions for golden hour. It beat popular but underwhelming sunset-tagged destinations such as Bali, Santorini and Mykonos in Greece, Italy’s Amalfi Coast, Lisbon in Portugal and the Algarve and Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands.
Why Namibia beat the Maldives
Holafly’s research found that Namibia has some of the strongest sunset conditions in the world, thanks to a rare combination of atmospheric factors.
The country recorded a remarkable 98% incidence of clear skies and just 12% humidity at sunset — among the best scores across the index. The desert atmosphere is also within the ideal aerosol optical depth range required to diffuse sunlight into rich reds and oranges.
Conversely, perfectly clean air actually weakens a sunset. The atmosphere needs the right amount of suspended particles to effectively refract light, creating the vivid colors associated with the golden hour. Namibia’s location next to the Namib Desert places it almost perfectly within this atmospheric ‘Goldilocks zone’.
Meanwhile, the Maldives – despite generating 392.5 million sunset-related TikTok views – performed surprisingly poorly scientifically, recording only 48% frequency of clear skies and 78% humidity at sunset. The researchers described it as the clearest example in the study of “social dominance in atmospheric reality.”
Rock arch and granite mountains at sunset in Spitzkoppe, Namib desert, Namibia, Africa.
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“Dusking:” The reality in Namibia
The growing popularity of twilight may reflect the rejection of algorithmic fast tourism, the beginning of the end of people, for some reason, who want to reproduce viral images. But Namibia’s twilight attraction goes far beyond sunsets. The country is one of the darkest and most visually dramatic places on Earth to watch day dissolve into night. Under exceptionally dry skies, travelers can watch the Milky Way stretch overhead, while the Magellanic Clouds—two dwarf galaxies visible only from the southern hemisphere—slowly rotate around the south celestial pole. Hotspots for dark tourism include the red sand dunes of Sossusvlei, the vast stillness of the Damaraland desert, the granite landscapes around Spitzkoppe and the remote farms around Gamsberg, the latter home to observatories and ultra-low light pollution. Think “dusk” followed by campfire stargazing.
When to Go “Dusking”
Never forget that every trend has its season. The best time to experience Namibia for sunset and astrotourism is during the dry season between May and October/November when you can also see the Milky Way. However, if you want dark skies shortly after sunset, be there between the last quarter moon and a few nights after new moon, when the Milky Way will be much more vivid to the naked eye.
With minimal humidity, a near-perfect frequency of clear skies and vast empty horizons, Namibia offers the kind of slow, immersive darkness that makes dusk feel less like a trend and more like a return to something ancient.
Disclaimer: I will be lecturing on a stargazing tour in namibia in November.
I wish you clear skies and open eyes.
