Sesriem is the gate to the great dunes of the Namib, a tiny settlement of a campsite, a lodge and a filling station, set on a gravel plain beneath a sky that is nearly always blue. The name means six thongs: early settlers had to tie six lengths of ox-hide together to draw water from a narrow canyon nearby, and the canyon, a slot about thirty metres deep carved by the Tsauchab River, is the first sight you meet. The river itself rarely flows, but when it does, in good rain years, it sends water out toward Sossusvlei and fills the pans with a thin blue sheet.
The dunes are the main reason anyone comes. Stretching southward from the Tsauchab, a sea of red sand reaches up to some three hundred metres, among the tallest in the world, and they change colour through the day, from pink at dawn to deep orange at midday and purple at dusk. A paved road runs sixty kilometres from the Sesriem gate to Sossusvlei, passing Dune 45, a favourite for sunrise photographs, and then a track continues to the pans. Deadvlei, a white clay pan with the blackened skeletons of camel thorn trees, some of them six hundred years old, is a favourite.
The ride in is a gravel road, with long stretches of corrugations, loose gravel and soft sand, and the main hazards are the surface, the distance and the heat. The temperature swings from near freezing before dawn to thirty-five or more at midday, so dress in layers. The park gates open at sunrise and close at sunset, and the best light is in the first hour. Wind can pick up in the afternoon and blows sand across the road.
Sesriem has a station, though supplies can be limited, so fill at Solitaire, a famous roadside stop on the C14 with a bakery known for its apple pie, or in Maltahohe. Carry water, spare fuel, a puncture kit and a tyre pump, and book your camp early, since the sites near the gate fill up. Stay for sunset and sunrise, when the dunes are at their best, and watch the stars come out over the dark desert.