The largest sand dunes in the world in the vast Namibian Desert are awesomely enormous and eerily enticing. In this sea of sand, the rich orange dunes rise tantalizingly to an astonishing 300 meters (100 meters higher than their nearest rivals in Arabia) and just beg to be climbed barefoot.

Located in the heart of Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft National Park, Sossusvlei is one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Africa

The word Sossusvlei originates from two languages, Nama and Afrikaans. It literally translates to “dead-end” (from the Nama word “Sossus”) “marsh” (from the Afrikaans word “Vlei”). Strictly, Sossusvlei refers specifically to the salt and clay pan at the end of the Tsauchab River’s course; however, often the entire area including Dune 45, Deadvlei and Hiddenvlei is referred to as Sossusvlei.