Into The Namib Desert: A Unique Experience

A few years ago, I had the incredible chance to visit one of the most fascinating places on earth: the Deadvlei, a clay pan surrounded by ochre sand dunes in the middle of the Namib desert, also called the 'Namib Sand Sea'.

While this was just one of many experiences we had during our three weeks exploration of Namibia, the Namib desert literally took my breath away. And not just because it's bloody hard to walk on the ridge of a sand dune!

Here's how to best experience the Deadvlei in the Namib desert!

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The Namib desert: practical stuff at a glance

"What makes the desert beautiful", said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..." 

Le Petit Prince

Antoine de Saint Exupéry

The name of the desert, Namib, stems from the Khoekhoegowab word for 'vast place', which obviously is the perfect denomination for a desert. It stretches for more than 2000 km along the West coast of Namibia. 

The highlights I recommend in this post are all located in the South of the Namib Naukluft Park. So I'd recommend you find a place to stay either in Solitaire, where you will have more facilities to choose from, or near the Sesriem canyon.

The Namib Desert Lodge

Taking in the scenery

We stayed at the Namib Desert Lodge in Solitaire, right at the foot of ancient 'fossilised' dunes of the Namib desert. 

From here, it's around 1 h drive to the Sesriem camp, the official entrance to the Sossusvlei, which can be exhausting when it's still dark as the road is pretty potholed. Driving through Patagonia wasn't nearly as bad as on Namibian roads..

But it's nonetheless a very good starting location in my opinion.

The Namib Desert Lodge feels a bit like an oasis in the midst of sand and stone masses. Maybe that's because the surroundings of the bungalows are very green and full of flowers.

Everything was so neat, I did miss some of the authentic Namibian vibe that we had elsewhere. It felt a bit like they were trying too hard to please western tourists. 

This was also very clear in the restaurant: while they do serve Namibian specialities, they also have a large choice of European or American tinted food, i.e. deep fried stuff that's not really great for someone like me with a chronic disease.

Protecting their environment

Overall this is a good choice, still! I loved the fact that they were really into environment-friendly thinking. While the countless bright flowers obviously need constant watering, which might not be considered eco-friendly, they use recycled water. 

They also produce the majority of their electricity through solar panels - Namibia is very sunny, so using this advantage is great.

The big plus of this specific lodge is obviously the location at the foot of the 'fossilised' dunes. Another one is the waterhole right behind the bungalows where you can spot beautiful Oryxes every evening when the sun goes down.

This just made me so happy as Oryxes are my favourite! They are also Namibia's national symbol and therfore represented on the coat of arms that had been introduced in 1990 when the country gained its independence. 

Remnants of the ancient Namib desert

According to the lodge's info, the red dunes surrounding it are very ancient; though I didn't find any historical documents to back that up. Hence the quotation marks.

Ancient dunes or not, it is a stunning view when the sun sets on them. The whole backgrounds gets this reddish glow and it's even more magical when you see the Oryxes slowly making their way through the sand in the distance. 

It is possible to climb to the ridge of the dunes and the views up there could have served as a backdrop of a Lion King - scene.

Watching the sun set over the valley

The Namib Desert Lodge offers 'evening safaris' which give you an even better view of the surroundings. You won't see any ferocious animals like the Big Five but plenty of Oryxes and all kinds of antelopes. The birds of Namibia are rather interesting too!

The best thing here is the set-up on the ridge of a dune overlooking the magnificent valley. This is something we experienced several times during the whole Namibia-trip: a sundowner with a G&T and some snacks, just taking it all in. African sunsets are just the best!

On the way to the Deadvlei

Sunrise at the foot of Sossusvlei

From sundowner to sunrise. Yes, sun rise. Which in Namibia is at around 7 am in August. Lucky us! It's a bit earlier from October to January (between 6 and 6h30), though.

But from our lodge, we knew that there was at least 1h to drive to reach the entrance of the Sossusvlei. And from here, another hour (60 km / 37 mi) to the Deadvlei.

So we still got up pretty early but wow! Look at those colours! That is absolutely worth a few yawns and dark circles around the eyes - I know, not everyone might agree.

We were definitely not alone though. The queue to the entrance of the park was pretty long already. And they don't let you enter before the sun rises.

I think they do make exceptions for people staying right there inside the Sesriem camp.

But the whole park is so vast, it didn't matter that there were a few people in the same car line. We didn't see many people once we were inside. 

Except maybe on the famous Dune 45. When we drove past it, you could see the line of climbers forming already on the ridge.

Which brings us the next highlight:

A majestic climb on Dune 45

Which we didn't do - haha. Not because we weren't up for the challenge, no.

But my personal main goal was to reach the famous Deadvlei and I absolutely wanted to savour it as much as possible without hordes of tourists swarming around , each tree being beleaguered by people taking pictures.

So we settled for driving past Dune 45 and admire it's bright orange colour (and the people on it) from a distance. 

This is also something you definitely want to do early in the morning. Not only are the chances of people already sitting on top of the ridge ruining your view much smaller, the sun has not yet heated up up the sand that much, making the climb slightly less tiring.

As with all sand dunes, though, walking on it is quite challening. We had the pleasure of realising this ourselves later on.

Breathtaking views: Sossusvlei and Deadvlei

Big white signs will tell you where to park your car if you're not driving a 4x4 and from here, a shuttle will take you to the Vlei. 

At first we were confident and tried to do the drive ourselves. But we gave up pretty quickly even though we had a huge 4x4 Toyota Fortuner. It was just too hard to get through the seemingly moving sand masses.

No big deal, though. The shuttles to get you to the Vlei and back are vehicles made for these difficult conditions. And the drivers definitely know how to tackle this particular soil. 

You could walk the distance, too. It's only a few kilometres / miles but it can be quite tiring and you don't want to be exhausted when arriving at the foot of the dunes you fish to climb or getting to the middle of the Deadvlei.

Ascending the dunes surrounding the 'Vlei'

So this is where we felt what sandy underground does to your legs. This is SO hard to walk on! For every step I took, I fell back two. Or that's what it felt like.

It is a cool experience, but your glutes and hamstrings will kill you.

Not to mention that your shoes are going to be a lot heavier. Especially after running down the other side of the dune.

Sliding down on your butt is another possibility to get there - the sand is nice and warm and we've seen plenty of people do it.

Getting to the top of the ridge is amazing: the views on the surrounding dunes and the Vlei below are spectacular. It doesn't get better than that.

Or does it..? I'll let you find out below the pictures.

The lone trees of Deadvlei: a unique experience

The name Deadvlei stems from the English 'dead' and the Afrikaans 'vlei', meaning lake (or marsh) in a valley between dunes. It's not the valley itself; that would be 'vallei'.

In Afrikaans, this dry clay pan is called 'Dooie Vlei', something similar to 'dead lake'.

[Side-note: I just LOVE Afrikaans! Having lived with a flemish-speaking guy for almost a decade, Dutch kind of became my third mother tongue. And Afrikaans sounds like a very cute variation of Dutch.]

The sand dunes surrounding the pan are breathtaking! No pictures could ever do it justice.

You just feel so tiny standing at the foot of the Big Daddy dune for example. This towering sand mass has a height of 350 m at its top ! Hard to grasp, isn't it?

The trees are camel thorns, which are very common in Namibia. What makes the ones in the Vlei so interesting is that they grew at a time when the Tsauchab river was flooding abundantly, supposedly around 600 years ago.

All of a sudden, the climate started to change and the river was blocked by the dunes. The trees dried out at very fast pace and just died on the spot. But the air in this part of the desert is so intensely dry that the wood doesn't decompose like it normally would.

So there they are. Still upright, graceful. Blackened and scorched by the sun. And they are the living proof - haha wait! - the dead proof of what mother nature is able to do. They are basically 'immortalised'. Though they're dead. I said that, right?

Anyway, they died somewhere between 1340 and 1430, somewhere during the Middle Ages. 

There are a few living trees and bushes  too. They survive on the morning mist and the very scarce rainfalls. 

So a big YES to getting up early and driving through pitch-black desert to see them before everyone else arrives. 

We had around two hours to enjoy the place almost by ourselves before other tourists arrived. Most of them climb the Dune 45 first, remember?

And these two hours were magical! 

Also: desert mornings have a unique vibe. During our backpacking-trip in Jordan, we had the opportunity to spend a few nights in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert. Waking up in the early morning surrounded by nothing but clear air and sand is special.

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If you decide to explore Namibia, DON'T leave this place out! 

When I think of all the places I've been to so far, this particular one - along with the Patagonian steppes and the fascinating Easter Island - remains one of my favourites.

Again: get there as early as possible. Take pictures. Enjoy the magic.

And don't forget to comment, pin and share this post 🙂

As ever

xx

Cyn (still not getting over the beauty of these dead trees)

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