Sossusvlei & Deadvlei in Namibia for self-drivers – Travel tips & photo tips

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The Namib-Naukluft National Park with Deadvlei and Sossusvlei is like something from another planet. The highest sand dunes in the world, dead trees in the desert, the wildlife and the starry sky – it’s easy to fall in love here

Therefore I wanted to tell you about my experience at this outstanding place and present my best tips for an unforgettable journey.

Overnight stay / Camping Sossusvlei & Deadvlei – Important tips

To stay overnight near Sossusvlei & Deadvlei, there are several campsites & lodges in Sesriem. Sesriem Oshana, Sesriem Campsite, Dead Valley Lodge and Sossus Dune Lodge are located within the first gate of the national park, where you also have to pay the entrance fee. And there is an advantage here: if you stay overnight at one of these campsites or the two lodges and have therefore already passed the first gate, you can get to Sossusvlei & Deadvlei 1 hour before everyone else in the morning, as the outer gate opens an hour later than the inner gate. However, there is also an inner gate that you have to pass through, which is why you are still bound to certain opening times.

I can more than recommend Campsite Sesriem Oshana, which only opened in 2022. There is 1 shaded pitch per car, each with a bathroom, toilet and fire pit. You can also use the communal pool.

Searching for more Namibia travel tips? I can recommend my blog post about everything you need to know before traveling to Namibia

Deadvlei

The Deadvlei pan next to Sossusvlei is world-famous among photographers because of the dead trees in the middle of the dunes and I was really looking forward to this highlight in Namibia.

Getting to Deadvlei – Driving in a 4×4

The journey here is a bit of an adventure, as the route isn’t entirely paved. You’ll drive just under 60 km from Sesriem on a tarmac road, then the final 4 km are on a sandy track. There are two ways to reach the starting point for the hiking trail to Deadvlei: you can either drive your own 4×4 (just remember to turn off the ABS and switch to 4×4 mode) or take the shuttle bus, which runs at regular intervals for a fee. Once you arrive at the final car park, you’ll begin the 20-minute walk along the marked path, navigating hills, valleys, and sand, until you reach the iconic pan with its famous dead trees.

Sunrise at Deadvlei

We had spent a long time deciding when to visit which places in the Namib-Naukluft National Park and then decided to go to Deadvlei at sunrise. For us, it was the best decision! Most visitors spend sunrise at the world-famous Dune 45, so although we had a few cars ahead of us on the drive into the park, the Deadvlei pan was (almost) entirely to ourselves, and it was absolutely fantastic. Additionally, the light at sunrise creates a completely different atmosphere compared to midday, much warmer with lots of shadows, as you can see in the photos.

Tip: You don’t have to exceed the speed limit in the Namib-Naukluft National Park (which is 60km/h…) and race to Deadvlei, as the sun only really comes out much later due to the high dunes all around. In my photos here, we were in the pan about 20-30 minutes after sunrise and as you can see, only the tops of the dunes were lit up first.

Big Daddy Dune – highest dune in the world

And there we were. On the supposedly highest dune in the world (nobody is 100% sure). After a good 1 1/2 hours of walking up and down, we had finally made it. You really have to work hard to reach the Big Daddy Dune.

And we made a few mistakes along the way, so I can show you some of my experiences here.

Tips for hiking Big daddy dune

Leave as soon as possible – preferably right after sunrise. Especially in the Namibian summer (European winter), it gets so scorching hot here from 10 a.m. at the latest that you can really forget it.

Don’t forget sun cream, sun protection and enough water (1-2 litres per person). It gets hot! There is no shade anywhere here, so you are really exposed to the sun all the time.

The way up to Big Daddy Dune: Do NOT go up from Deadvlei, or if you do, do NOT take the path right at the beginning of the pan, but go all the way to the back. The best and easiest way (coming from Sesriem) leads up to the left before the Deadvlei and is not really marked. When you see the path to the Deadvlei, you simply have to go a little further to the left and past the first larger dune on the left. We made the mistake of going to the Deadvlei first and wanted to climb up from there, but we ended up on one of the small dunes that lie around the Deadvlei and most of these are not leading anywhere, here you would have to go up the small dunes and then down again to get to the Big Daddy. Coming from Deadvlei, only 1 path leads directly up to the Big Daddy and this begins at the very end of the pan on the left, relatively steeply uphill. I still recommend taking the path directly from the car park.

The way down from Big Daddy: After the steep, sweat-inducing ascent comes the all the more fun descent. You can simply walk down the dune 😀 After 5-10 minutes, the fun is over again – after 1 1/2 hours of climbing, it’s a short but very fun experience.

Sunset from Dune 45

Dune 45 is one of the dunes that you can officially climb. And somehow it has become a favourite sunrise spot over the years. This means getting up early, walking up a dune and then watching the sunrise at the top with countless other tourists. I wasn’t in the mood for any of that, so we just turned it round and walked up Dune 45 at sunset. And what can I say? Apart from the brutal wind, which we actually had every evening in this area, it was simply fantastic! I think the picture says it all, don’t you?

Plus: Sesriem Canyon

In addition to Sossusvlei & Deadvlei, there is also the beautiful Sesriem Canyon in Sesriem. This is not far from the small village of Sesriem and is really worth a little detour. You can walk straight into the canyon from the car park. We initially headed towards the source, where you come to the end of the canyon after a few hundred metres, which is why we also walked a few hundred metres in the other direction. You could hike here for hours.

Tip: Don’t go into the canyon in the midday sun, as it can get unbearably hot there too.

A couple of impressions from Sossusvlei & Deadvlei