Sossusvlei

This word has a mixed origin. Vlei in Afrikaans means marsh, while sossus is Nama for dead-end or “no return”. The sand dunes in the area are various shades of red due to the iron content in the sand that has oxidized or rusted.

The early morning light brought out the various hues, as well as cast beautiful shadows. A Springbok was enjoying the cooler temps…

… while a beautiful Oryx provided a nice scale element -

(they are bigger than a deer, but smaller than an elk)

His close-up:

Our guide stopped in an area to show us the little residents of the dunes…

(I’m sorry about the fuzzy focus, but I wanted to share the colors of the Red-tailed Lizard)

He showed us the trap door of the White Lady Dancing Spider’s den…

The sand is so fine that you can see the spider tracks leading up to it!

This one small area told a story of multiple creatures passing by (lizard, desert rat, and beetles) -

As we drove deeper into the region…

… the dunes grew higher and redder -

The pinnacle (pun intended) of our visit was to see Deadvlei…

… a white clay pan surrounded by the (purported) tallest sand dunes in the world.

Big Daddy dune is 1,000-1,2000 ft high -

We didn’t have time to hike up there, but we did hike up the one alongside Deadvlei…

… enjoying the expanding views…

… and the local residents -

Shovel-snout Dancing Lizard (which is keeping its feet off the hot sand)

It was a bit intimidating when our guide dropped us off at the beginning of the track to Deadvlei, and told us “climb up the dune on your left, and then slide down”, and he drove off to wait for us to return. We followed the tracks of others before us…

… but we didn’t know where to start down, as previous tracks had disappeared. The guide had given us the tip of stepping down with our heels, and just keep sliding. Here’s Steve demonstrating good form (video alert - open this post in your browser by clicking the link at the end) -

He took a video as he slid down, to show the soft sand sluffing away as we went -

Where we came from -

After the water source to the marsh dried up, the clay soil hardened so much that the dead trees were left standing -

It was difficult to get pictures without people in them…

… but I kept trying…

This long day started before sunrise…

… but as the shadows grew long(er), we took one last picture -