Namib desert – Nambia

The Republic of Namibia is in southwestern Africa, on the Atlantic coast.  This was a three week trip to explore the Namib deserts; the desolation of the Skeleton Coast and the animals of the Etosha Game Park. Driving south from Windhoek through the Namib Desert, the sealed road quickly gave way to a well made dirt road. After around six hours of travel, the reward was a Namibian sunset over the dusty plains of the Namib Naukluft Park. The scenery is vast and on a scale that is almost mind numbing. It is also breathtaking beautiful.

Sossusvlei (sometimes written Sossus Vlei) is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name “Sossusvlei” is often used in an extended meaning to refer to the surrounding area (including other neighbouring vleis such as Dead Vlei and other high dunes), which is one of the major visitor attractions of Namibia.

The name “Sossusvlei” is of mixed origin, and roughly means “dead end marsh”. Vlei is the afrikaans word for “marsh”, while “sossus” isnama for “no return” or “dead end”.

The dunes are a dark red in colour and rise into the sky like mountains.

We rented a Cessana in Walvis Bay and flew back to Sossusvlei, across the desert to the sea and then back up the Skeleton coast to Walvis Bay.