Sossusvlei

My vist to the tallest red sand dunes in the world!!

 Sossusvlei located in the Namib Desert is the home to some of the largest red sand dunes in the world and a few weeks ago I got the  opportunity to climb to the top of one of them.  This trip was outstanding, even though we happened to go during one of the hottest weekends in the last 25 years.  One day temperatures reached about 116 degrees... and we were tent camping!!

On our first night we set up camp and quickly ate dinner before setting off to hike a smaller dune to watch the sun set.  Those dunes were beautiful and I had no idea how much more impressive the dunes we would climb the next morning would be.

The next morning we woke up at 4:30am and headed further in to the park where all the large dunes are located.  We first hiked in to Deadvlei (translated Dead Marsh) which is a white clay pan.  We managed to finish this hike and watch the sun rise before it got hot, stopping to take some really fun pictures where the lighting was great!

Next we headed across the road to hike "Big Mama" a dune that is 919 feet above ground, and the second largest dune in the Namib Desert.  Luckily we were able to finish before it got too hot because let me tell you I was a little bit winded from climbing that!

Once we reahed the top of " Big Mama" we sat and enjoyed the amazing view of Sossusvlei which is the famous salt pan that the area is named after.  The salt pan is oval shaped and is covered in a crust of salt and iron rich sand.  The reason the dunes in Sossusvlei are red is because of the high iron content in the sand.

To make our way down the dunes some of us took our shoes off and ran/stumbled down the huge mounds of sand.  It was quite the exhilarating experience and I'm sure glad I didn't fall because I will be finding sand in my hair for the next year as it is!