Continuing our route south we headed to the crown jewels of Namibia landscape, Sossusvlei.  Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. 

Often described as 'the land of the red sea' due to the ever shifting dunes it really is a magnificent place to visit. En-route we had another 300 Km plus desert drive and saw many many breakdowns but the worst was the German mobile hotel which not only broke down, but also burnt out.   

We crossed over the Tropic of Capricorn and rested up in a remote campsite called the Rostock Ritz. German owned we agree, but not sure about the Ritz bit.

Climbing the big dunes at Sousesvlie was firmly on our list of activities, but we had met a quite few people (half our age) who had failed to climb them due to the heat.  We decided the only way not to be defeated by the sun was to leave well before sunrise.   We set off on the 60 Km drive from the park gate just before 0500 - we navigated the final off road, deep sand drive with ease and walked the 1 Km walk in relative cool to arrive in Dead Vlie. Dead Vlie is the iconic white clay pan with the skeletal remains of centuries-old trees, bordered by desert dunes

Big Daddy is the awesome red dune that almost surrounds Dead Vlie and without too much trouble we traversed the ridge line to the top. We sat on the top for an hour just soaking up the spectacular views and running and diving around in the deep red sand.

We eventually left Big Daddy as the other famous dune, Dune 45 was still to be climbed. Again we followed the ridge line up and after a lengthy spell of just siting and admiring, we both ran down the dune.  Running down the dune was like off piste skiing on a black, only in deep red sand that was getting hotter by the minute.

Our 0430 start had been worth it, we had a brilliant morning and another bucket list item ticked before heading home.

Heading back to camp having had our fill of photographing trees and red sand dunes, we noticed wild oryx and ostrich out in the distance. There is literally no food or water here, so we still don’t know how they live, however, this often creates another photo opportunity of their life in the wilderness.

The skyline is a contrast of deep reds and burnt oranges set against blue skies, and this beauty further develops with the sunrise. As we left the park, those fellow travelers who stayed in bed past 8am and had a leisurly drive down to the dunes were never going to climb the dunes or get the pics we took. We saw a car sticker today, it said, “it’s the journey not just the destination” and we now need a sticker saying “you’re preaching to the converted”