Sossusvlei & Desert of Namib

Pictures Of Namibia

Sossuvlei is located next to the Sesriem Canyon, within the Namib Naukluft Park in Namibia. The dunes rise to over 375 meters above the river Tsauchab flowing from east to west to die in the desert a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. They are among the highest dunes in the world. These dunes are located on top of an ancient desert petrified forms a sandstone base ...
Explore Sossusvlei & Desert of namib

Dead vlei

Dead Vlei is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia.
Also written DeadVlei or Deadvlei, its name means "dead marsh" (from English dead, and Afrikaans vlei, a lake or marsh in a valley between the dunes).

Dead vlei in Sossusvlei

Hiking in the desert of Namib

Hiking in the Namib Desert ...

Namib desert

The Namib Desert is a desert in Namibia and southwest Angola that forms part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game reserve in Africa.
The name "Namib" is of Nama origin and means "vast place".
Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for at least 55 million years, it is considered to be the oldest desert in the world.

Dune of Namib desert

Dune

Dune 45

Dune 45 is a star dune in Sossusvlei, Namibia.
Its name comes from the fact that it is at the 45th kilometer of the gravel road that connect the Sesriem gate and Sossusvlei.
Standing over 170m, it is composed of 5 million year old sand that was brought by the Orange River from the Kalahari Desert.

Climbing the dune 45

Big Daddy dune

Big Daddy is the highest dune in the Sossusvlei area; it is about 325 meters high (height may vary over time as it is made of sand).
Big Daddy is located past Sossusvlei proper, near Dead Vlei. It faces another very high dune known as "Big Mama".

Big Daddy dune

Namib Dune

Reddish dunes of the Namib Desert

Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei is about 66 km past the Sesriem gate.
The last 6 km can only be traversed with 4WD vehicles as the concrete road ends and sand begins (the place where the concrete road ends is known as "2x4 parking" as any non-4WD vehicle must stop there).

Sossusvlei

Dune of Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei Pan

While the pan has been shaped over time by the Tsauchab river, the actual flooding of the pan is a relatively rare event, and sometimes several years pass between one flood and the next one. The river is dry most of the year, and even when it is not, it carries relatively little water to the vlei.
The vlei is surrounded by high orange-reddish dunes, partially covered by a vegetation comprising grass, bushes, and some tree

Sossusvlei Pan