Namib Sand Sea is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog. Covering an area of over three million hectares and a buffer zone of 899,500 hectares, the site is composed of two dune systems, an ancient semi-consolidated one overlain by a younger active one. The desert dunes are formed by the transportation of materials thousands of kilometres from the hinterland, that are carried by river, ocean current and wind. It features gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, inselbergs within the sand sea, a coastal lagoon and ephemeral rivers, resulting in a landscape of exceptional beauty. Fog is the primary source of water in the site, accounting for a unique environment in which endemic invertebrates, reptiles and mammals adapt to an ever-changing variety of microhabitats and ecological niches.
Text: World Heritage List
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 of Namibia.
Text: Wikipedia
It is believed that the sossusvlei dunes were formed around five million years ago.
Coloured by iron oxide sand was washed from the Orange River in the Kalahari towards the sea. The Benguela Current drove the sand north, all the way to the town of Luderitz. Blowing inland northwest, winds caused a distribution of the sand and the formation of the dunes.
The Namib dunes consist of colored quartz sand and shimmer in different colors, the more intense the shade of red the older the dune is.
The blowing winds constantly change the shape of the namib dunes. The upper part of the dune is called “slipface”. On the windward side of the dune, the wind is depositing the sand. On the leeward side of the dune the sand slides down. This side is therefore the steeper one.
The dunes lying around the Sossusvlei are called parabolic dunes or star dunes because they extend downwards from the pinnacle of the dunes in different directions. This creates dunes up to 50 kilometers wide.
According to research, the star dunes migrate up to 10 meters per year. The Namib dunes are among the most stable representatives of their kind rising from the 100 meter high sand dunes in Tsondab said to have been created from 20-40 million years ago and then fossilized. Text: (
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The coordinats were taken in "Dead Vlei".
To drive to the parking coordinates you must have a 4wd.