Sossusvlei - Namibia’s unspoilt desert beauty, salt and clay pan surrounded by immense red dunes
Baku, September 24, AZERTAC
Located in the Namibian Namib-Naukluft National Park in the southern part of the vast Namib Desert, Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by immense red dunes.
Sossusvlei, loosely translated as “dead-end marsh” and about 60 km from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, is where the dunes stop the water of the Tsauchab River from flowing any further; if there were any waters that is, something which happens very rarely.
Most of the time the pan, just like the rest of the Namib Desert, is bone dry for years. But in those years when the rains are exceptionally rich and the pan is filled with water, there is reason for celebration and photographers from all over the world come to see this magnificent spectacle.
The characteristic red dunes of the Namib Desert have developed over many millions of years.
The red sand that forms the dunes was deposited into the Atlantic Ocean from the Orange River. The Benguela current then carried this sand northwards, to be deposited back onto the land by the ocean’s surf. From here the wind carried the red sand inland to form the dunes over time.
The sand dunes in the Namib are dynamic and change shape with the wind.
The dunes around the Sossusvlei area are known as “star dunes” due to the wind shaping them from all directions.
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