Sossusvlei Desert Route

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sesriem

   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.

   Read the complete Sesriem write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sesriem is where the day begins. Next is Dune 45.

2. 2. Dune 45

   Dune 45 is a long, curving ridge of red sand in the Namib, forty-five kilometres from the Sesriem gate on the road to Sossusvlei, and the numbering explains its name. It stands about 170 metres high and its sharp crest has become the best-known dune in Namibia. The red colour comes from iron in the sand, which oxidises over time, so the older the dune, the redder it is. In the first light of the morning, it glows orange against a blue-black sky, and in the late afternoon the shadow side turns the colour of charcoal. The dune is not the tallest in the desert, but it is the one most people climb, because it is the easiest to reach.

   Read the complete Dune 45 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dune 45 comes up about 95 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sossusvlei.

3. 3. Sossusvlei

   Sossusvlei means something like the dead-end marsh, and that is exactly what it is: a clay pan where the Tsauchab river, in the rare years when it flows, runs out of strength and disappears into the dunes. For most of the time the pan is white, cracked and dry, surrounded by some of the tallest sand dunes on earth, including the one known as Big Daddy, rising roughly three hundred metres above the floor. Everything about the place is on a giant scale, and the silence is huge. The smell, if you stop and stand still, is of warm dust and nothing else.

   Read the complete Sossusvlei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Sossusvlei. Next is Deadvlei.

4. 4. Deadvlei

   Deadvlei is a white clay pan in the heart of the Namib desert, ringed by some of the tallest dunes on earth, and it looks like a stage set. The pan holds a scatter of camel thorn trees that died perhaps nine hundred years ago, when the river that fed the area changed course and sand blocked its path. The trees have not rotted in the dry air, and they stand blackened by the sun against the white floor and the orange dunes, which is the photograph everyone wants. Sossusvlei, the larger pan, is a short distance away, and Big Daddy, a dune about 325 metres high, rises beside Deadvlei. There are no towns for a very long way.

   Read the complete Deadvlei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Deadvlei closes the day.