Red dunes and dead trees in the Namib
Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan hemmed in by some of the highest sand dunes in the world, deep in the Namib Desert. Visitors enter at Sesriem at first light to climb Dune 45 or the taller Big Daddy and watch the sun paint the ridges. Just beyond, Deadvlei is a white pan scattered with camel thorn trees that died centuries ago and still stand, black against the orange sand and blue sky. Sesriem Canyon, a narrow gorge carved by the Tsauchab River, is close by.