Sossusvlei is one of the most spectacular sights in Namibia with red sand dunes rising 300m into the air. Climb a sand dune, explore the Dead Vlei or balloon over the great Sand Sea.
A visit to the Namib-Naukluft Park usually means you are going to Sossusvlei by way of Sesriem. And with good cause as this is the start of the Great Sand Sea and the classic larger-than-life dunes that meet everyone's notion of a desert.
Star dunes with up to five crests rise 300m into the air and rank among the biggest in the world; the dune valleys are marked by vast clay pans where the Tsauchab River gave up its fight to reach the sea. More than 60,000 years ago, the encroaching dunes stopped the ephemeral river from reaching the sea with over 50km still to go.
Besides the dunes and pans of Sossusvlei and Sesriem Canyon, a sideshow of activities and sights has developed around the region and there are plenty of game lodges that provide additional desert-adapted activities.
Plants and birds are the dominant life form in this dessicated realm and they support a tiny world of mammals, reptiles and insects that, in the absence of coastal fog, seldom wander far from the rivercourse and its pans.
Sossusvlei is one of four pans in among the towering dunes, the others beingDead Vlei - so named because of the petrified camel thorn trees that survived for a few hundred years after the dunes blocked the river; !Nara Vlei - which has a number of endemic !Nara bushes eking an existence from the scarce water that occasionally makes it down from the Naukluft Mountains; and Hidden Vlei which is a barren amphitheatre some distance beyond Dead vlei.
Resting on Namibia's spectacular coastline just south of Swakopmund, Walvis Bay (Whale Bay) is a thriving town, Namibia’s principal harbour and one of the country’s most popular tourist centres. It is known for its natural lagoon, striking orange sand dunes and wealth of outdoor activities. Visitors can enjoy fishing, bird-watching, sailing, sandboarding, swimming, surfing and golf. Located just outside town is Dune 7, one of the largest sand dunes in the world, offering fantastic views from the crest for those with the energy to climb it. Other bucket list items include a trip to the expansive green and pink salt pans dotted with flocks of flamingos, and boat trips to see seals colonies, dolphins and friendly pelicans while enjoying champagne and oysters.
Victoria Falls also known as "Mosi oa-Tunya" ("the smoke that thunders") is positioned almost exactly half way along the mighty Zambezi River's 2700 km journey from it's source to the sea. Here the river plunges headlong into a 100m vertical chasm spanning the full one-and-a-half kilometre width of the river. Creating the biggest curtain of falling water in the world and also one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCXPRtPnUac
The power of the falls is awesome with the highest ever flow recorded in 1958 when it reached more than 700 000 cubic meters of water a minute. The water in the gorges rose 18 metres (60 feet) above its normal flood level.
This constant pounding by the currents of the mighty Zambezi has, over the millennium, cut through the rock faults and fissures and carved out not one but eight successive precipices (and now the ninth has begun). When our early ancestors inhabited this area some 1.5 million years ago , they would have seen a different Victoria falls to he one we see today.
Being one of the greatest physical spectacles in Africa it stands to reason that it has attracted so much much interest from us humans over time and therefore the area is steeped in history and mystery.
Situated in the northwestern corner of Botswana, the Okavango Delta is a World Heritage Site as it is the largest inland delta in the world. The magnificent Okavango River sprawls out over the dry sands of the Kalahari Desert forming this flourishing waterlogged oasis featuring countless meandering waterways and crystal clear lagoons studded with water lilies, as well as fertile floodplains and reeded islands inhabited with abundant wildlife. The Okavango Delta stretches over an impressive15000 square kilometres. Visitors can enjoy a number of wonderful activities such as game viewing, fishing, bird watching or taking an authentic guided Mokoro excursion through this wetland paradise in a traditional dugout canoe. Commonly spotted animals include: lion, rhino, leopard, giraffe, hippos, elephants, crocodiles and countless species of bird.