Red dunes, a white clay pan, and trees that cannot rot.
Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan in the Namib Sand Sea, ringed by some of the highest dunes on earth; Big Daddy stands roughly 325 metres above the pan floor. Deadvlei, a short walk away, is the photograph everyone comes for: a bone-white pan holding blackened camelthorn skeletons that died when shifting dunes cut off the river feeding them, and which are too dry to decompose. The Namib Sand Sea is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Stay inside the park gate at Sesriem if you can: the inner gate opens an hour before the outer one, which is the difference between shooting the dunes in first light and arriving after the shadows have gone. The last 5km to Sossusvlei is deep sand and needs a 4x4 or the park shuttle. Entry is charged per person per day plus a vehicle fee, and we confirm the current rate when we quote.
1 Day (day trip). Namib-Naukluft National Park, Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Dune 45, Sesriem Canyon.
Windhoek, Kalahari or Khomas Hochland en route, Namib-Naukluft National Park Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Sesriem.
7 Days / 6 Nights. Namib-Naukluft, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Cape Cross, Damaraland, Twyfelfontein, Spitzkoppe.
10 Days / 9 Nights. Namib-Naukluft, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Cape Cross, Damaraland, Twyfelfontein, Etosha National Park.
5 Days / 4 Nights. Namib-Naukluft National Park, Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Solitaire, Kuiseb Canyon, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund.
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