Sossusvlei

February 24th, 2009

Namibia’s number one attraction was our next destination - the place where the famous red sand dunes offset by the deep blue skies live. We entered the park and started the 64 km drive from Sesriem to Sossusvlei. Along our way we saw springbok and gemsbok in the fields and delighted in taking several hundred photos of the landscape where to the left we saw small rocky mountains and the right the sandy dunes.

Our first stop was the famous Dune 45, 45 kms from Sessriem and 45 dunes from Sossusvlei. Climbing out of the car and stretching, we packed some water and began to climb. It was surprisingly easier than we had thought it would be. Perhaps it was the rains the night before or maybe the angle which we climbed. At the top the views were spectacular. We sat and admired the view, snapping another 100 pics.

We drove further on to Sossusvlei and decided to hike the 5kms return to the Dead Vlei. This was amazing and we would recommend that everyone do it if in the area. Although hot, the hike wasn’t too taxing. Arriving at our destination it felt as though we had entered a Dali painting. It felt so surreal, like another world. Karel summed it up well when said he felt as though we entered another world, or that we were in some sort of Science fiction film where you went away in a space ship or submarine and when you surfaced the world had been destroyed. Again another 100 photos were taken.

Our final stop was hiking the Hidden Vlei, a four km return hike. Under instruction to follow markers, we were slightly perplexed as the so called white markers turned out to be wood coloured twigs. The walk was stunning. Views were of perfectly shaped orange, coral and red coloured dunes, sparse glowing green bushes and small flat pans. And guess what, we took another hundred photos.