It was a full day of exploring the most striking landscape that I have ever seen in the area of Sesriem and Sossusvlei in Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. We left our camp, Le Mirage Desert Lodge near Sesriem bright early before sunrise in order to be at the Park Entrance when it opened. There was already a line of car and buses when we arrived.
As we proceeded through the gate I could only see the sunrise from the side mirror of our 4×4 safari jeep.
We made a short stop to see the valley full of different colors of sand dunes reflected by the morning light.
It did not stop me from taking a few picture from the moving vehicle, I set my shutter speed at 1/1600 sec. and pictures came out okay. (Click any image to start slide show)
Then we came to the “Big Daddy” of sand dune, a towering 325 meter (1,066 feet) tall dune, the tallest dune in Sossousvlei area.
and finally arrived at Dune 45, probably the most photographed dune in the world. It is about 80 meters tall with beautiful shape and color. It attracted many tourists to climb.
We took a two hour break to either climb the dune or photograph the surrounding dune in the area.
After the lunch break we then hike may be a mile or two to Sossusvlei or Dead Marsh, an old pan with no vegetation at all but dead acacia trees, some over 500 years old. It was such an unusual landscape that I have never see before but it really stirred my soul and imagination. I walked around the pan in search of inspiration to photograph this special scenery.
On the way back to our camp we encountered a few springboks and an oryx in the desert plain.
As we returned to Le Mirage Lodge there was a beautiful sunset waiting for us.
This was a day marked one of the highlights of our 13-day tour of Namibia in May 2017.
Good night and sweet dream!
Stephen Hung Photography 
This place is just out of the world and your photographs are Perfect. Was it problematic to stick to the strict closure time of the park?
Thank you. I did find the gate opening at sunrise was too late to get to some of the beautiful sand dunes for drastic colors and contrast. As I mentioned previously, I wish we could stay an extra day to photograph these magnificent landscape at different time of the day.
Thank you for sharing your amazing experience
I love this post! As usual, great photos!
Thank you, Cindy. I wrote this “travel log” to remind myself how we spent that extraordinary day to view and photograph this remarkable landscape. Hope you have fond memory as well.
Wow!
As always, thank you for visiting my blog
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Thank you!
Your pictures are unreal! Thank you for sharing a place I have never heard of or been to yet.
Thank you very much. That’s what I said when I first set my eyes on the sand dunes – unreal! It was an unforgettable adventure.
Absolutely fantastic – Nature really showing off. Well done !
Thank you, I had wonderful time to see and photograph this unusually beautiful landscape.
The unusually forms and colours; I’m thrilled! This is amazing photos thanks for sharing.
It’s a magical place for photography! Thanks for visiting my blog!
Wow! This sky! Burning clouds.
Thanks for stopping by. I think you’ll be thrilled hiking up Dune 45!
There is (I think) only one lodge – Sossus Dune Lodge – inside the park and if you stay there you get a jump on the people queuing at the gate and can arrive before and leave after sunset. So for anyone going purely for the photography, it might be worth considering staying there?
Thank you so much! If I ever go back I’ll definitely consider that. This may also answer Phippi’s concern earlier.
My pleasure. We were there in December (Sossusvlei, not the lodge I mentioned, a friend only told us about it after our trip) and our family photos can’t compare to yours, they are completely stunning.
Thanks again! That day trip at Sossusvlei was my highlight of the Namibia trip!
Sir….Wonderful Pics… Great Photography..
Thank you for visiting my blog and glad you like my photos.
Breathtaking. What an experience I’m sure.
Thank you, yes, it was quite a memorable day to see and photograph the beautiful sand dunes.
Omg! Astonishing! You photos are amazing!
Thank you so much – glad you like my photos!
Stunning photography
Thank you – it was indeed quite a day for exploring and photographing the amazing landscape!