Trees Of Dead Vlei

At the end of the funnel reaching into the big red dune giants of Namib Desert, that is Tsauchab River, is a place that could not be more unreal: the Deadvlei. The white clay pan is the stage of petrified acacia trees being up to 500 years old. Trees being so typical for the landscape of the Black Continent. They are witnesses of former water in the desert and even served as a backdrop of a film.

Unique place, unique desert

It is late afternoon and the sunset is not too far as I make my way from Sossusvlei to Deadvlei. Only now, in the approaching evening hours, the sun is not as relentless as it was at day time. When the desert reaches its temperature limit in the afternoon, the sand on the skin can cause blisters.

Vlei is Afrikaans and stands for salt pan, for a depression made of white clay-salt-rock. The Deadvlei illustrates the meaning of this word like no other. It is a place that could not be more surreal. As a visitor, you think you are in a picture of Salvador Dali. Unlike the Iranian desert with its Kalout rocks, Deadvlei is as flat as the ocean when there is no wind. Nevertheless, I find traces of former watercourses in the clay and salt rock, and they were still so small.

Despite the fading sun I park my jeep in the shade of a tree near Sossusvlei. There a few trees can live and survive from the few underground waters of Tsauchab River. Surprisingly, I am completely alone here at the end of the funnel reaching into the desert sand. Most of the visitors can be found in the early morning or in the morning.

Black, Red, Gold: Trees, Sand and Salt Rock

This morning I took a helicopter ride to see the dunes and the desert landscape at sunrise and from the air. With these impressions, the aerial desert view in my mind’s eye, one perceives the desert completely different. The bird’s eye view illustrates the uniqueness and fragility of the Deadvlei; the valley where the sun whipped all life out of the ancient acacia trees.

It takes a little time to walk from Sossuvlei to Deadvlei. And since you can spend two to three hours around and in Deadvlei, I prefer to wear long clothes and sturdy shoes. Because of the still potent sun…, and also because of the sand as its super-hot upper layers can leave bad blisters on the skin behind…

Not even a single cloud blurs the sky. Any steam was fried away by our central star. Buzzingly Cessna flying high above the desert as well as a helicopter pass by. Certainly, they see me as small black spot moving among firm black points (trees) only. And there they are. The black, petrified acacia trees of Deadvlei. Majestic. Mystical. Characterised by its morbid charm, framed by red sand and having dune giant “Big Daddy” in the background.