Sossusvlei

For most visitors, one of the highlights of Namibia is a trip to the massive sand dunes surrounding Sossusvlei (actually the pan or valley floor that you will park on). This is one of the world’s most striking, well-preserved and easily accessible desert landscapes, and is well worth the effort of getting there.

The huge pan, or vlei, is surrounded by towering sand dunes, reputed to be the highest in the world. While you will quickly realize this is an exaggeration when you arrive (there are towering dunes as far as the eye can see), it is a spectacular region of the Namib Desert. In years of extraordinary rains, such as 1997, 2001 and 2006 (when the Sesriem Campsite and Sossusvlei Lodge were flooded), the Tsauchab River breaks through the sand and flows all the way to Sossusvlei, filling the pan with water and presenting the surreal site of ducks and even flamingos wading amid the dunes. The water gradually seeps into the ground, where it is tapped by the long roots of the camelthorn trees and nara plants living here, and subsequently there is the extraordinary sight of the red dunes covered with green swathes of grass.