"Nearby is yet another "place of no return" this one even older, and much more dead than Sossusvlei. Known as Dead Vlei or "dead marsh" (Vlei being Afrikaans for a type of marsh), it is found among the tallest dunes in the world -- some reach 1,312 feet high, which is almost as lofty as the Empire State Building. Dead Vlei was once like Sossusvlei, with the river draining into it nourishing desert life and even trees. But no longer. Some 900 years ago the climate dried up, and dunes cut off Dead Vlei from the river.
It became too dry in Dead Vlei for the trees to even decompose. They simply scorched black in the sun, monuments to their own destruction. The trees, now over 1000 years old, form a barren forest. The area, however, is not entirely without life. Salsola shrubs and clumps of Nara melon stay alive by subsisting off of morning mists."
May0naise on June 17th, 2017 at 22:07 UTC »
Why is the sand two, such distinct, colors? It's an amazing picture
Graustark2012 on June 18th, 2017 at 03:14 UTC »
http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/08/30/dead_vlei_the_scorched_tree_skeletons_of_the_namib_desert_in_namibia.html
"Nearby is yet another "place of no return" this one even older, and much more dead than Sossusvlei. Known as Dead Vlei or "dead marsh" (Vlei being Afrikaans for a type of marsh), it is found among the tallest dunes in the world -- some reach 1,312 feet high, which is almost as lofty as the Empire State Building. Dead Vlei was once like Sossusvlei, with the river draining into it nourishing desert life and even trees. But no longer. Some 900 years ago the climate dried up, and dunes cut off Dead Vlei from the river.
It became too dry in Dead Vlei for the trees to even decompose. They simply scorched black in the sun, monuments to their own destruction. The trees, now over 1000 years old, form a barren forest. The area, however, is not entirely without life. Salsola shrubs and clumps of Nara melon stay alive by subsisting off of morning mists."
solateor on June 18th, 2017 at 04:13 UTC »
Shot of a lifetime in the bone dry Namib Desert