Sossusvlei & the Namib, Namibia

Visit Sossusvlei or the Namib Rand Nature Reserve

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Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert rivals a visit to Etosha as the highlight of any Namibian holiday. You rise with the sun to see one of the most awesome sights in Namibia - the towering dunes of Sossusvlei, some of the largest in the world, rising more than 1000 feet above the Namib desert.

Surrounded by towering, wave-crested dunes of red-orange sand, Sossusvlei is especially breathtaking in the early morning, when the dunes are transformed into explosions of colour by the first rays of the sun. Many of our visitors lose their hearts to Namibia after seeing Sossusvlei. This is paradise for the photographer, as the shadows create a magnificent contrast of colours. Marvel at the gemsbok and other animals that manage to survive in these dry conditions. The energetic can climb one of the dunes for a panorama of the endless dune landscape and the changing play of light.

Sossusvlei lies in the central park of the Namib Naukluft National Park which covers nearly five million hectares of the Namib desert and is one of the largest conservation areas in Africa. It stretches from Luderitz northwards along the Namib coast to Swakopmund, a harsh tract of desert that is home to the gemsbok with its rapier-sharp horns, the sprawling Welwitschia and a multitude of toktokkie beetles and other creatures found nowhere else in the world.