THE DEAD VLEI OF SOSSUSVLEI, NAMIB DESERT
Worthy of a trek across the white clay pans and
encompassing sand dunes of world renowned
Sossusvlei is the lesser known “Deadvlei”. Its
combination English/Afrikaans name merely meaning
“dead marsh”; vlei meaning a lake or marsh amidst
sand dunes.
But the the name is very descriptive of its origins as
the Deadvlei was formed originally as a temporary shallow pool after the flooding of
the ephemeral Tsauchab River that flows from the neighbouring Naukluft mountains
out through the Sesriem Canyon every 5 to 10 years. Even in the admittedly rare very
wet years it does not reach the Atlantic Ocean but drains away between the dunes of
Sossusvlei. Indeed “Sossus” means "dead end".
At some ancient period of time the floodings in the vicinity of the Deadvlei were
regularly enough to allow the native Camel Thorn tree to take root and thrive for a
number of years. But the sand dunes eventually changed the route of the river and this
with a change of weather pattern meant the trees quickly died.
All this occurred nearly 1000 years ago but what make this vlei worthy of a visit is the
blackened skeletal remains of these ancient trees poking above the white salt
encrusted clay pan of the vlei. Though not petrified, the sun-scorched wood does not
decompose because it is so dry.
But the vlei is not completely “dead” as some species of plants, such as gannabos (a
form of salsola or saltwort) and clumps of !nara, can survive in these arid conditions
surviving off the early morning mists and the very rare periods of slight rainfall.