Soussesvlei: The Namibian Dune Sea
Namibia has so many different environments, and I'm getting to see each of them. On my latest trip, I got to see Soussesvlei, supposedly the tallest sand dunes in the world.
With everything in Namibia, getting there was half the fun. we were mis-informed about the quality of the roads, and would seriously recommend not attempting either the C24 nor C26 in a 2wd car.
Once we got to Sesriem, the town nearest Soussesvlei, we set up camp at a rather expensive "tent" cabin site, Desert Camp. It was beautiful, but i wouldn't recommend it for people on our budget.
Sunset at the Desert Camp.
The dune sea just starts. You're in dry prairie one minute and the next you're approaching these big dunes.
Climbing Dune 17 is a popular place to start, but we kept going to the three main areas, Soussesvlei, Deadvlei and Hiddenvlei. From this picture of Dune 17, you can get some sense of the size.
I like this picture.
Below is the tallest dune that we climbed at Soussesvlei. There are three people climbing it on the right, but there's also (at least) one person at the top on the left...
This oryx watched us from over a sand ridge as we walked to Hiddenvlei. It was amazing to look up and just see him there, casually watching us. Once it became obvious that we were watching him too, he left.
There are animal tracks of all shapes and sizes everywhere but we didn't see a lot of animals in Soussesvlei itself. Immediately outside of the park (Namib Naukloft Park), we came across the biggest herd of Springbok I've ever seen, as well as a pair of ostriches with their young and the odd oryx or baboon.
— SGP
