DeadVlei or Dead Vlei, its name means "dead marsh" (from English dead, and Afrikaans vlei, a lake or marsh in a valley between the dunes). The pan also is referred to as "Dooie Vlei" which is the presumably original fully Afrikaans name. Dead Vlei has been claimed to be surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world, the highest reaching 300-400 meters (350m on average, named "Big Daddy" or "Crazy Dune"), which rest on a sandstone terrace. The arid climate and a lack of water and the hard wood of the Camel Thorn tree
has kept the trees of Deadvlei from decomposing. The result is a collection ghostly trees rising from a cracked white clay surface. The pan is deceptively large and offers about fifty interesting shaped trees to capture through your lens. Reaching Deadvlei requires walking a little bit further than one kilometer on soft sand and over a dune that is about fifty meters high. The climb is very gradual and we’ll tentatively only do it in the mornings when it is still cool. For a person of reasonable fitness it won’t be a problem.