Deadvlei – a place like no other

Deadvlei is no doubt one of the most surreal places on the planet.

There was once a river than ran through here, nourishing the camel thorn trees.  Then, 600-700 years ago, the dunes shifted cutting off the river.  The pan dried out and the trees died, but they didn’t rot due to the very dry climate.  Today they are black and brittle from baking in the hot sun for centuries.

As the sun rises, the light begins to creep across the dunes…

It becomes a study in light and lines and texture…

As the sun rises over Big Daddy (the highest dune in Sossusvlei) it lights up the trees while the dune remains in the shadows…

It was starting to get busy, so we packed up our gear and headed out for a well earned breakfast.

After breakfast we headed back to the Lodge for a bit of a rest before heading out again later in the afternoon.  We spent a bit of time photographing the dunes of Sossusvlei again before heading back to Deadvlei for twilight.  By this time the wind was really blowing making the walk up the dune to reach Deadvlei challenging – but seeing the sand in the late afternoon light made it all worth it!

Normally you have to be out of Deadvlei before dark, but we were given special permission to stay longer!  What a special treat, to be able to photograph this place under the amazing night sky.  It was extremely windy, so much so that we almost left.  We decided to give it a try since we were already there.  It was a challenge but with the tripod set low to the ground it worked out pretty well…

While we were doing our milky way shots our intrepid park guide/driver Stanley had wandered down to join us.  By the time we left, thanks to the wind, the path of footprints in the sand was totally gone.  We were happy to have Stanley to show us the way and lead us out, without the use of a torch or flashlight I might add!