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salt and clay pan („Vlei”).
Lonely acacia at the end of the road in Sossusvlei within a salt and clay pan („Vlei”).
A Nara plant, a melon that occurs only in Namibia growing and building sanddunes.
!Nara The !nara is an amazing plant native to the dunes that parallel the watercourses in what is one of the world’s oldest deserts. The tap-root of the !nara can bore up to 40 meters down to find moisture, and once rooted its tangled branches form a thick crown that stabilizes the shifting sands around it. Plants augment ground moisture with condensation from the coastal fogs that blanket the areas in which they are found. The unique adaptations of the !nara allow individual plants to live for over 100 years in this harsh environment. Every part of the !nara’s melon-like fruit can be used in some fashion. Outside protected areas, the Topnaar people traditionally use the husks for livestock feed; the nuts form a protein-rich staple of the Topnaar diet. The fruity flesh of the melon can be dried and stored for several years. The !nara is also thought to have medicinal properties for everything from stomach ailments to sunburn protection. In recent years the melon has become an important export to neighbouring countries. Fossil evidence indicates that the !nara existed some 40 million years ago. The !nara was probably utilized in the stone-age, and it is likely that the plant is the sole reason why the desert tribes survived in their habitat to modern day
Big Sky
River Textures This is a rare sight, after unusually heavy rains, the ephemeral Tsauchab River flowed into the dune field where it eventually reached the pans. I love the abstract swirling patterns created by water transported silt and dust. Because of the present arid climate, few people have ever seen the Tsauchab River with flowing water or a lake in Sossusvlei. In times past, however, the Tsauchab appears to have reached the Atlantic coast, another 55 kilometers farther west. Like several other rivers of the coastal Namib Desert, the Tsauchab brings sediment down from the hinterland to the coastal lowland. This sediment is then blown from the river beds, and over probably tens of millions of years, has accumulated as the red dunes of the impressive Namib Sand Sea
Quenched A heavy sky promises more rain to come
Desert Green Strom clouds gather over the dunes at Sossusvlei
Sand and Water The rare sight of a flowing river in the Namib Coastal Desert. Sossusvlei, Namibia
salt and clay pan („Vlei”).
salt and clay pan („Vlei”).
salt and clay pan („Vlei”).
See photo in original gallery.
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