SOSSUSVLEI - INFORMATION ABOUT THE REGION

The sand is sort of soft, almost silky.  It is a beautiful colour which is sort of orange in the morning, with great shadows (the angle of the sun, especially in the shorter days - i.e. the months around June, is best this time of day.)

See the dunes.  The view are magnificent with varying colour through the days.  The dunes are situated in the Namib Sand Sea, an area of dunes the size of Belgium.

Photograph the dunes.  Its one of those places that just leave you feeling good about your own photographs - you can hardly miss getting good shots.

Walk the dunes.  Walk a little further than the crowd and get rewarded with an experience for your soul.  Sossusvlei is busy, by Namibian standards, but it is rather easy for those keen to walk to get far away from the crowd and deep into the dunes themself.

Appreciate the wildlife.  There is more diversity than one thinks here in the desert.  Oryx, Springbok and Ostrich area all found in the area, and often have to live there for months or even years without being able to drink surface water.

Appreciate nature in all it's forms.  We look at the small things, the lizards, beetles, fishmoths, birds and snakes, all the animals that make the dunes their homes. 

There are a few plants growing on dunes or in the inter dunes.  The area around Sesriem has various other interesting plants.  Of special interest are the Camel Thorn Trees and the !Nara plants.

Pro Namib.  Once back at the lodges we enjoy the environment around the eastern part of the desert.  Here there is higher density of wildlife than Sossusvlei and there other interests to pursue, such as birding or astronomy.

Contact us for more information about Sossusvlei.

About our approach to Sossusvlei is to really allow guests to experience the place well.  We do one normal Sossusvlei trip but also recommend coming back later for different light and to really take it in.

Mornings are a good time for photos and for walking.  The middle of the day the light is flat for the photographers, but the colour becomes more red and the look tells you that you are in a harsh desert.  The afternoon has the best colour of all.  It almost becomes brick red before sunset.

Sesriem is the gateway for the Sossusvlei experience.  The lodges are mostly situated within a reasonable drive from Sesriem for anyone visiting the park.  Sesriem also has the small Sesriem Canyon in it.  It is about 60 kilometres from Sossusvlei

The Tsauchab River (or dry river bed) is the reason for Sossusvlei.  The river comes from the higher lying areas in the east, and runs into the desert, only to do battle with the dunes.  The river leaves the long Sossusvlei valley open, but the river is finally stopped at the Sossusvlei pan, about fifty-five kilometres from the Atlantic.

Sossusvlei pan is the end of the open valley.  From here it is dunes in almost every direction.  The river does occasionally fight it's way through to here, as it did in 1997, 2000, 2001 and finally in 2006.  2008 there was also flooding in the area, but did not fill up the pan.  When Sossusvlei holds water, it attracts not only desert animals who drink here opportunistically, it also attracts birds that are normally associated with water.

Deadvlei, famous for the dead trees on a flat open pan is south east of Sossusvlei.  It  has been cut off from the river system for some 600 years.  Dead trees remain on the pan till today (around 70 of them still stand,) creating a wonderful spectacle.  The pan is a little over a kilometre long and is accessed only by walking from a parking area just over a kilometre away.