Deadvlei

For most landscape photographers visiting Namibia, Deadvlei is top of their list of places to visit. Here there is a large salt pan and dead acacia trees that are over 600 years old. The complete lack of moisture means that they have not decayed.

We stayed in a lodge within the National Park. We rose very early and were in the first vehicle to be allowed into the park this morning. Jason drove with great purpose and we were the first people to reach the salt pan. (I was last in the group, but still before everyone else!)

The pan looks small until you establish a sense of scale.

Instead of one of the familiar terracotta images (see extra) I shot my blip into the sun and converted it to mono. I was inspired by an image taken by David Ward on an earlier trip.

If you look closely, you will see people climbing the sand dune called Big Daddy.

By the time we left Deadvlei, it was overrun with other tourists. We had a cooked breakfast in the shade by our van, with Jason as our chef. It was enormous fun.

The gemsbok, (oryx) are very common here and pay little attention to visitors. I liked the image of these two at rest.

Another wonderful day.