Namibia 3: Kveldstur inn i "Dead Vlei" i Namibørkenen

Inn mot Dead Vlei (Bilde 1 - 3)

Dead Vlei (Bilde 4 - 19)

Sanddyner i Sossusvlei

Oryxantilope

Kveldsturen under den andre dagen i Namibia, 

og under vårt opphold i Sossusvlei i Nabibørkenen, 

gikk til Namibias kanskje mest kjente attraksjon, 

området som kalles "Dead Vlei".

Mens det om morgenen var rene folkevandringa 

av turister inn til dette tørre området,

fikk vi stedet nesten for oss selv fram mot solnedgang.

Nettopp perioden da sola begynte å gå ned,

og de flere hundre år gamle døde trærne falt i skygge, ga litt spesielle bilder.

Kjekt å ha vært på nettopp dette stedet!

Vi var godt fornøyde da vi gikk tilbake til bilen og turen tilbake til lodgen vår.

En velvoksen oryxantilope ble kveldens aller siste motiv.

Dette er hva Wikipedia skriver om Dead Vlei:

"Deadvlei is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia. Also written DeadVlei or Dead Vlei, its name means "dead marsh" (from English dead, and Afrikaans vlei, a lake or marsh in a valley between the dunes). The pan also is referred to as "Dooie Vlei" which is the (presumably original) fully Afrikaans name. In Google there are many references to the site, its name often being translated erroneously in terms such as "dead valley"; a vlei is not a valley (which in Afrikaans is "vallei").^[1] Nor is the site a valley; the pan is a desiccated vlei.

Dead Vlei has been claimed to be surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world, the highest reaching 300–400 meters (350m on average, named "Big Daddy" or "Crazy Dune"), which rest on a sandstone terrace.

The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab river flooded, creating temporary shallow pools where the abundance of water allowed camel thorn trees to grow. When the climate changed, drought hit the area, and sand dunes encroached on the pan, which blocked the river from the area.

The trees died, as there no longer was enough water to survive. There are some species of plants remaining, such as salsola and clumps of nara, adapted to surviving off the morning mist and very rare rainfall. The remaining skeletons of the trees, which are believed to have died 600–700 years ago (ca. 1340-1430), are now black because the intense sun has scorched them.^[2][3] Though not petrified, the wood does not decompose because it is so dry."