Sossusvlei and Deadvlei-"What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlovely being alone can be."--Ellen Burstyn

Sossusvlei and Deadvlei,

Words cannot express the beauty and majesty of this area. We booked our  trip to Sossusvlei when we arrived at the hotel but I would strongly encourage you to book the tour early if visiting in the busy season. Sossusvlei was probably the busiest area we have seen. 

You can go on your own to the area, hike Dune 45, and then take a shuttle to Deadvlei, but I would not recommend it. The shuttle gets busy and crowded and the driving their on your own is dangerous because the sand is so fine, that you risk getting stuck in the sand or worse, in a pothole surrounded by sand. Spend the extra money and get a tour guide. 

We left the hotel at 6 in the morning with Michael, our tour guide and Melvin, the third person in our small little tour group. Michael drove, Melvin slept and Kiah and I watched the sun rise over the area and hit the sand dunes. When we started to get into the area, the morning was still early enough where the shadow of the sand dunes shaded the area to create a bright and dark contrast of the dunes. Kiah wanted to make sure she got some cool photos so here is one of her doing a handstand in front of some dunes. 

We passed what Michael called the famous trees (the ones that are the majority of the postcards featured above). He had stopped at what used to be the famous tree but a branch broke off so now it is not as famous. He then drove us to Deadvlei and Kiah, Melvin and myself started to hike "Big Daddy" which is the tallest sand dune in the world at 350 meters. I hiked up a small portion and said "fuck this" and went back down but not before getting an awesome photo. Michael met me down at the bottom and took me around to Deadvlei where Kiah and Melvin would meet us. Kiah and Melvin hiked to the top of the dune and then walked barefoot all the way down from the top into Deadvlei. Towards the bottom, I would recommend putting shoes on because twigs and sticks are in the sand and Kiah got a blister at the bottom of the hill. 

Deadvlei is beautiful. Truly. The sand dunes surround this area where a lake once sat. The dunes kept the water from coming in and the lake dried up. The sand was caught in the trees and just started growing bigger and bigger. The acacia trees in the area have been dead for about 600 years. The sun scorched their trunks, but although they are not petrified, they do not decompose because they are so dry. But the area is getting smaller and smaller and we saw one tree on the side that was about half covered as a testament of the area getting smaller. 

We took so many pictures because the landscape and area were so beautiful. the best ones were the photos that Melvin shot on his Go pro. We look like we are in an album cover. We spent maybe an hour in Deadvlei total and the whole hike and photos took about 3. 

After Deadvlei, we had lunch and then Michael drove us to Sesriem Canyon for some photos. He said that the last time the area got water was in 2011. We have seen water and flooding signs everywhere but seen no water at all while driving around. 

Later in the afternoon, we hiked up some mountains for a view of the sunset and had a BBQ at the hotel. The food was delicious and we were treated to some entertainment by the people at the hotel singing some songs. 

I would put Sossusvlei and Deadvlei on everyone's bucket list. 

It's a lifestyle. I don't own anything, but I travel-Kari, from Finland

Tuesday morning of our trip, we woke up and walked to pick up our Toyota Rav 4 for the next 10 days. We drove back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and as Kiah as co-pilot we made it. We kept reminding ourselves to drive on the left, turn to the left lane, stay on the left.

After a light breakfast, we were out and on the road. We drove for about 4 hours from Windhoek to Sossusvlei. When we picked up the rental car, we had to watch a safety video and I'm really glad we did. Leaving the city, the road is paved, but after a turn a third of the way, you turn on to a dirt, gravel road for the rest of the trip. The dirt road is bumpy and most of the way held the tires in place. However, there was a section of the road that I seriously thought we were going to spin out. It was about half way and the car started to veer to the left and into the side of the road. I overcompensated to the right and then the car started to loose it's traction and spin, but I remembered my high school car training and stepped off the brake and had the car slow it's self down to get ourselves situated again. It was a little scary being my first time skidding, but we were able to make it out ok. 

During the last third of the trip, there was a sign warning drivers about a steep gradient. Before the steep hill, the road turns from dirt to brick and is paved in a small brick pattern and thank goodness. There were portions of the road that when you got to the top and went over the hill, you couldn't see the rest of the road ahead and just hoped it was there. The anticipation of the road being there was the scariest part of the drive. The majority of the roads in Namibia are not paved so overall driving is a little scary and a little difficult. 

We arrived at Namib Naukflat safe and sound. We checked in and headed out for a sunset drive. We saw a few animals-geckos, springbok, oreck and warthog. I was trying to explain warthog to someone in the car we were in, and someone helped us out by saying "Pumba, from the Lion King" and Kiah thanked him for speaking Kiah. 

This gentleman ended up joining us for dinner. His name was Kari, from Finland who I got the title of this post from. Very nice guy, traveled all over and we were able to talk to him about his many adventures. After a delicious dinner of chicken stew and oreck ribs, we headed to our hotel room to get ready to get up at 6 the next morning. Our first day of driving was completed and our 10 day trip around the country was beginning.