Sossusvlei

On Sunday we set out early heading south from Windhoek, for a 340 km drive to Sesriem. The first 90 km of road was tarred but after that it was gravel all the way. For the rest of the trip we would only encounter tar occasionally. We stopped to cook lunch in Spreetshoote Pass.





Cooking lunch for the first time in Spreetshoote Pass, trying to figure out where to find everything. Notice the very handy awning for a bit of shade. This place had the most spectacular view, west out over the Namib Desert









Solitaire is a small place in the middle of nowhere with a gas station, shop and a bakery. They have the best apfelstrudel this side of the Tyrole.










The shop in Solitaire









An evening excursion to the Sesriem Canyon.
The canyon derives its name from the fact that early Afrikaner trekkers had to use six ('ses') leather thongs (a thong is a 'riem') so that their buckets could reach the water far below.








Ooooops! Try not to step on the snake. He is well camouflaged but it would still not be very polite.







The Sesriem Canyon, is invisible from even a short distance away. You have to walk right up to the very edge to see it. Sesriem was an important source of water for the early inhabitants of the area, and even during dry times there is water in the upper reaches, where deep clefts in the rock reduce evaporation. The Tsauchab river which takes its source in the Naukluft Mountains carved this deep fault in rock agglomerates and silts going back 15 million years.








Magnus properly covered up for protection from the sun (and wearing SPF 50).








Pitching the tent for the first time in Sesriem. Really quick and easy. It just folds open and all the bedding (no sleeping bags but proper mattress, duvets and pillows) is kept in the tent.








Start prepping for dinner.










Sunrise over the Namib Desert. Spectacular.









Sossusvlei dunes are at their most vivid and colorful shortly after sunrise.










Magnus with his favorite toy.








Very fine very red sand. You have half a sand dune in your boots after 5 min.








Fancy meeting you up here!?







When you are walking along the ridge of a 300 m high sand dune, the ridge feel pretty sharp and the sides rather steep. But it does not look like it at all from the pictures.









Look at the dunes in the backdrop. The desert just goes on and on and on....








































The Sossusvlei is a huge clay pan, enclosed by giant sand dunes. Some of the spectacular hills of sand are, at a height of 300 metres, the highest in the world. The dunes of the Namib desert have developed over a period of many millions of years. It is thought that the vast quantities of sand were deposited into the Alantic Ocean by the Orange river. This material was subsequently moved northwards by the Benguela current to be dumped back onto the land by the surf. The coastal dunes developed as a result of this and were shifted further and further inland by the wind. Wind continuously reshapes the patterns of the huge dunes of the Namib desert. It timelessly forces the grains of sand on the flat windward slope upwards to the crest of the dune. Here they fall down in the wind shade. The leeward slope is therefore always considerably steeper than the windward side.








Some morning fog drifting in from the Skeleton Coast.










Lovely place in the early morning, very still and very silent.





































Enjoyng the silence and the scenery. We also saw our first Oryxes.


































Photo shot-out in Dead Vlei.









The floor of the dry clay pan.

























Dead Vlei is a clay pan that is surrounded by sand dunes, which rest on a sandstone terrace. The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab river flooded, creating temporary shallow pools where the abundance of water allowed camel thorn trees to grow. When the climate changed, drought hit the area, and sand dunes encroached on the pan, which blocked the river from the area. The trees died, as there no longer was enough water to survive. The remaining skeletons of the trees, which are believed to be about 900 years old, are now black because the intense sun has scorched them. The wood does not decompose because it is so dry.


































You can keep on photographing but I am hot, was awake before 5am this morning, and am taking a coca-cola break NOW!









Climbing sand dunes is hard work! And it is very hot.









Lunch break in the mid day heat, finding some shade by the Sossusvlei pan. Birds having the leftovers of our pasta-salad.








Lunch nap in the shade. Dreaming of future holidays?









Good with a 4x4. Driving in sand you need to have pretty low pressure in your tyres.











We were surprised there was so much life in the barren vast desert. We saw plenty of birds, lizards, insects as well as larger animals such as sprinboks, oryxes and ostriches.