Video: Under the Namibian sky

Chris' wife Joelle just sent me another of those cool videos where they're able to capture the Milky Way.

I get the whole notion of leaving the shutter open a while, but I'm still curious EXACTLY how they do this? Will a good camera capture the milky way like this if the lens stays open half a minute? It sure never happens on my pocket cameras. Or do you have to be in a place like Namibia, where the night sky is unpolluted by light?

The only times I recall seeing the Milky Way are at the beach at night, just as I approached the water. Probably the best stars I've ever seen were on the border of the desert in Morocco. I couldn't believe the number of stars visible. A local bedouin couldn't fathom why I was so amazed. Sadly, this was at the beginning of my digital camera phase, so I only had a cam that took like 50k photos. Sad.

Anyone an expert on this?