2. The Quiver Tree Forest and Devil's Playground.

The Quiver Tree Forest Rest Camp was our first stop once the tour started.

These trees are strangely beautiful, and some can be up to three hundred years old and still survive in this arid landscape.

It gets its name from the fact that indigenous San people used its hollowed-out branches to make quivers for their arrows.

We spent some time walking amongst the trees, mostly scouting for the best compositions to take photos at sunset.  But the real magic happened much later. It was new moon with a clear sky, and an uncountable number of stars shone brightly. A perfect night for capturing long-exposure night-sky photos.

Every time I photograph the Milky Way, I am completely awed by its stunning beauty. It makes me realize how vast and mysterious our universe truly is, and I am left humbled by the sheer magnitude of it all.