Sossusvlei & Deadvlei

Towering red dunes surround white clay pans like Deadvlei, dotted with centuries-old dead trees.

The name is of mixed origin and roughly means dead-end marsh. Vlei is the Afrikaans word for marsh, and sossus is Nama for no return. It earned the name because it is a drainage basin with no outlet, where the Tsauchab River, which flows only now and then, comes to an end.

Dunes among the highest in the world

The dunes come in different shades of orange, and the colour shows a high amount of iron that has oxidised over many years. The older the dune, the redder it is. Many of them are higher than 200 metres, and the highest, nicknamed Big Daddy, is about 325 metres high. Dune 45 gets its name because it lies 45 kilometres past the Sesriem gate. It is 80 metres high and made of 5-million-year-old sands.

Pans that rarely flood

Sossusvlei is a clay pan covered in a crust of salt-rich sand. The river is dry most of the year, and the pan floods only rarely, sometimes with several years between floods. When dry, the pans look almost white from the salt. Deadvlei, about 2 kilometres away, used to be an oasis with camelthorn trees, until the river that watered it changed course. Now blackened dead trees stand on the shiny white floor against intense orange dunes.

Life and visiting

The area has surprisingly rich animal life, mostly small creatures that survive with little water, plus oryx, springbok and ostriches. Morning fog from the Atlantic Ocean is an important source of water. The Namib Desert beetle collects fog droplets on bumps on its back. A 60-kilometre road leads from the Sesriem gate to Sossusvlei, and the last 6 kilometres need a 4WD vehicle. Visitors can also take hot air balloon or small plane flights over the dunes.

On the globe

The model shows red dunes around white clay pans with dead trees. Look for the dark trees on the pale ground.