Day 5: Sossusvlei and Sesriem
On reflection, the photos blogged do not in any way do justice to the beautiful desolation of the landscapes around us. I may, in some way be forgiven, as the pics are snapped on an iPhone from a car, going 100km/h on a dusty road. It’s also more than that, not even a fancy expensive camera could capture the enormity and vastness of Namibia, it’s an indescribable feeling.
This was even more evident today, visiting one of my favourite spots, the gigantic red dunes of Sossusvlei. Gray recalled that on his first visit to the dunes, he was 14 years old and they were the only people there. Over the years it has become a massive tourist attraction and we were dismayed to see so many tourists and vehicles when we arrived at Deadvlei. Fortunately, due to the vastness of the area it didn’t prove to be a problem and the 65 km drive and 1.5km walk over the dunes was definitely worth it.
Sossusvlei is situated in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, it literally translates to ‘Dead-end marsh’.The majestic red dunes surround a large white salt and clay pan. The dunes, some reaching 400m are amongst the highest in the world.
From Sossus we headed off to another spectacular area, the Sesriem Canyon. It is a natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab river in sedimentary rock. It is about 1km long, 30m deep and in places only 2m wide.
Pandas in Africa 