Sossusvlei and the Desert

From the gate at Sesriem into the desert the road is suitable (at a cautious speed) for normal sedan vehicles after 60km you will come to the 2 wheel drive parking area, if you do have 4 wheel drive you can choose to go the last few kilometeres through the deep sand to the 4wd parking area but be cautious the sand is thick and deep, only go if you know what you are doing!

There is also a 4wdrive shuttle service provided by NWR that will take you in for a charge.

Most people park at the 2wd area and walk in on foot, its not too far and there are several large sanddunes you can choose to climb and watch the sunrise, walking in the sand is a lot harder than it looks, (wear loose sandals as closed shoes will fill with sand and make it even harder), and take water and of course your camera.

This is what it is all about

If you are there in time for the sunrise you will have seen very little so far, so get ready as the sune rises, at first you can see dark grey shapes emerging from the gloom as the light glimpses over the horizon then over the next 30 minutes the sun will go from hidden to blazing overhead and the colours of the dunes go through a beautiful array of colour.

As the sun rises

The grey gives way to purple, then a deep red ...

...and it gets hotter

... then the full glow of the Namib dunes pushes out, the vibrant iron rich sand has a gorgeous red hue which set against the clear blue blue sky makes for hard to believe photos but it doent take long before the sun is right overhead and the colours although still beautiful pale a little and the temperature rises quickly.