Super-natural Sossusvlei

Text and photographs Ron Swilling

I had to change my attitude – fast. I had planned to capture the early-morning light on the sand dunes of Sossusvlei, but by the time I was on the road driving the 60 kilometres from Sesriem to the Sossusvlei parking lot, the sun had already breakfasted, exercised and was now on its way to work.

To top things off, and darken my progressively gloomy mood, I realised with a combination of shock and horror that the northern hemisphere and South African school holidays coincided for this brief period of time, and everyone (and his brother) would be out and about at Sossusvlei and the celebrated Dead Vlei close by.

Nevertheless, I pressed on regardless. When I eventually arrived at the Sossusvlei parking lot and took the shuttle for the last five kilometres of sandy road, I leapt off the vehicle and hastily made my way over the desert terrain to Dead Vlei. I stopped in my tracks, momentarily competing with the dead acacia trees that rose heavenwards out of the white crusty earth.

The vlei seemed to inspire pirouettes and poses, and deep introspection. Whatever the chosen option for the morning, I had difficulty photographing a dead tree without a tourist draping him- or herself over it. I snapped away as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. Frustrated, I walked across the apricot sands to Sossusvlei, carrying my dark cloud above me, but I wasn’t able to climb the Big Mama dune as I had intended for the best photographic opportunities, as the wind was propelling red sand off her spine with gale-force gusts. Feeling as if I had been caught in an Everest-type windstorm, I attempted an unsuccessful ascent of the lower ridge, before becoming covered in sand and trudging defeated down to the water’s edge, protected from the wind by the Big Mama … and then it occurred to me.

I kept the unusual sense of the word ‘super-natural’ in mind and was later grateful for the perfect description of this unearthly and exquisitely beautiful area

Here I was on the edge of Sossusvlei in the middle of the Namib Desert surrounded by sand dunes, and there was water rippling in the vlei, with blacksmith plovers flying up in celebration of this rare occurrence. I sat down next to the water that lapped against the desert shore and for a long while watched the burnished sands dotted with camel-thorn trees and !nara bushes and listened to the water. Putting my expectations aside, I absorbed wonder in its entirety. Nature was giving me an unexpected gift and I had nearly departed empty-handed.

Sossusvlei is mind-boggling and breathtaking, no matter when you visit, although mornings and afternoons are preferred for their deep colours and midday is best avoided due to the searing heat. I was staying at a lodge near Sesriem, and had heard a foreigner add the superlative ‘super’ to everything. Most things were super-good, some things were super-stylish, and Sossusvlei was ‘super-natural’. I kept the unusual sense of the word in mind and was later grateful for the perfect description of this unearthly and exquisitely beautiful area.

The belt of red dunes begins on the right-hand side, with mountains on the left – as you pass through the Sesriem gate – transforming into a gauntlet of marching dunes. As I write that metaphor, I check myself. Although they are definitely on the move, the dunes are much too sensuous for that limiting description, and I try again… The dunes appear like a sensuous swathe of curvaceous bodies languidly stretching to Sossusvlei. That’s better. How can a writer ever do justice to these beauties?

The road crosses over the Tsauchab River, usually dry, and the river’s journey continues underground, marked by trees that follow the river’s course at the base of dunes. Stark skeletons remain of trees on the fringe of the watercourse.

Leave your expectations in bed when you rise to catch the light and let the desert dazzle you with its brilliance

Sossusvlei – a dry pan that receives a belly of water only after years of exceptional rainfall, such as this one – is the Tsauchab River’s final destination and resting point after it rushes through the narrow Sesriem Canyon, often in flash flood, carving away walls and tumbling branches as it surges through the riverbed and continues into the desert. With unequivocal determination the dunes curtail its journey to the sea, the Namib Desert claiming the area, allowing the river water to collect in the pan for short and precious periods until the clay dries and cracks and the last of the moisture seeps underground and disappear into the desert air.

Around Sossusvlei are its sister pans; !Nara Vlei, Hidden Vlei and Dead Vlei, Dead Vlei being the most photographed and picturesque, having been cut off from the Tsauchab River hundreds of years ago. The trunks of the camel-thorn trees remain in the cracked clay floor of the pan resembling beings reaching for the sky or dancing the waltz over the sands of time.

The sands of this ancient desert were washed down the Orange/Gariep River into the Atlantic Ocean and transported northwards by the ocean currents and wind. They are rewarded for their long and arduous journey as the high iron content of their particles oxidises and transforms into ‘gold’, creating a golden desert world coloured by the sun’s journey through the sky.

Such a trip is a once-in-a lifetime experience, or perhaps more – depending on your zest for magic and truly inspiring places. But leave your expectations in bed when you rise to catch the light and let the desert dazzle you with its brilliance. No drugs needed. This is a complete trip courtesy of Mother Nature and the ancient Namib Desert.

This article appeared in the Oct’11 edition of FLAMINGO Magazine.