37 FramesScale & Stillness. The Gift of Feeling Small (and Slightly Unhinged in Sand)
📍Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Dune 45. 🛏️ Sossus Dune Lodge
Because sometimes awe and exhaustion arrive in the same breath … and that’s where the real stories live.
We Set Out Before the Sun
There are some days that begin like poetry. This one started with a 5am alarm and sand in places sand should never be.
But also… a flat tire.
Which, oddly, turned out to be the best thing that could’ve happened.
You see, self-drive tourists can only leave the lodge at 6:30am. Guests not staying inside the park have to wait even longer, at the outer entrance. But those going with a lodge guide? We get to leave at 6am.
So when we woke up to that pancake tire (surely a farewell gift from the hell-road out of Aus), we just jumped into the mega lodge 4×4 with two fabulous German ladies … and off we went, ahead of the crowds.
The drive was pitch black the whole way in, the last 5km pure soft sand. Our guide handled it like a desert ninja. We were silently glad it wasn’t us driving.
We rolled into Deadvlei as golden light cracked the horizon. Hiked the 1.2km in. And then… magic.
For a blissful, surreal 30 minutes, it was just the four of us. Then the German ladies headed up Big Daddy dune. And suddenly, unbelievably, it was just the two of us. Alone. In one of the most beautiful places on Earth. For 20 golden minutes, we didn’t speak. We just stood still.
It was everything we’d dreamed. And we’d been dreaming of Deadvlei for more than 25 years.
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Deadvlei: Where Breathlessness Has Two Meanings
The view.
As the light slid across the desert, the colours changed by the second … deep shadows, orange fire, soft gold. The Namib is one of the oldest deserts in the world … estimated at over 55 million years old … and standing up there, we could feel every one of them.
The light. The shadows. The lines.
A white clay pan. Charred camelthorn trees over 600 years old, still standing — too dry here for even rot to take hold. Towering dunes all around.
We watched the light crawl down into the pan, painting the scene in real time. Warm golden tones turned cool and contrasty. A photographer’s heaven. A visual love letter to impermanence and presence.
And just after sunrise, the tourists arrived. Lots of them. Not overwhelming, but enough to make those earlier moments feel sacred. Fleeting. Something to treasure forever.
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That Hike Into Deadvlei: A Comedy in Three Acts
Here’s the thing they don’t quite tell you: Deadvlei is only a1.2km (30 minute) walk from the parking lot. That’s true.
Unless:
- You are hiking through deep sand.
- You’ve got camera gear, video gear, tripods, water, and existential dread.
- And you’ve been up since 4:30am with nothing but a protein bar in your system.
Let’s just say: it took us longer than 30 minutes.
There were multiple stops. A minor map debate. A soft moment of “I’m not sure we’re going the right way.” And one full-blown meltdown. (We won’t say whose. But it rhymes with “both of us.”)
At one point, Tracey lay dramatically on the sand and declared she was done with the desert forever.
At another, Dee offered to carry everything while saying absolutely nothing, which is always suspicious.
We’re fine now. But don’t ask us for the full story unless you’re buying the first round of cocktails.
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And Then: Deadvlei
Was it worth it?
Absolutely. How could it not be? We’d waited so long to be here.
Even in our slightly broken state, walking into Deadvlei was like walking into a dream you didn’t know you had. Bleached white clay pan. The charred camelthorn trees, standing like time itself. Surrounded by towering dunes on all sides.
There’s no moisture here. No life. The trees died over 600 years ago and haven’t decomposed … because it’s too dry for even rot. So they just stand, silent, weathered, almost sculptural.
It didn’t feel real. Which is maybe the point.
These are not all the images by the way. Barely scratch the surface. Just a few quick picks for the blog updates. We can’t WAIT to go through them all when we get home to the studio. On the big screens. We’ll post more… soon.
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Unexpected Joys: Pajamas and Perspective
We met two South African men… in pajamas.
Turns out, their friend runs a charity making PJs, and they wear them in iconic places around the world. Photos for a webpage. Awareness and laughs. Legends.
They gave us brilliant driving tips for the road ahead … one of the many moments of camaraderie with fellow travelers on this trip. Namibia may be vast, but connection finds you.
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A Breakfast with Big Mamma
As the tourists trickled in, we hiked out. It seemed so much easier than the hike in. High on life. On adrenaline.
A short drive later, our lodge driver had set up a simple breakfast at the base of Big Mamma … another dune with a name we’re kind of side-eyeing.
Coffee. Biscuits. Birdsong. Stories with our new German friends. Surrounded by sand and sky. Perfect.
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Dune 45 & the Light We Didn’t Shoot
On the drive back, we stopped at Dune 45 and a few other dunes — this time, cameras down. The light wasn’t right for photos, so we just… watched. Lived it. And that felt just as important.
Back at the lodge, a crew helped change our tire. (Turns out, our German friends had a flat too — and we passed two other vehicles mid-repair on the way in. Testament to yesterday’s chaos drive.)
Later, we headed into Sesriem to have the puncture fixed. Kuchungo handled it with Tokyo-level precision. The service station? Packed. Tour buses, snack-laden queues, everyone needing a tire fix. A kind of dusty, buzzing rhythm to it all.
Tire sorted. Back on the road.
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Afternoon Delight: Dunes & Joy
We spent the afternoon doing exactly what we love: photographing dunes. Abstracts in light. Driving up and down that stretch of national park road. Letting the light and shadow play tell their own stories. Each dune sculpted uniquely by time and wind. No two alike. A constant shifting beauty.
It was us at our happiest. Creating. Wandering. In Africa. In Namibia. Doing what we love most … together.
Springboks, ostriches, and oryx made cameos along the way.
Small things cast long shadows here. This beautiful golden hour where the world folded into silence and shadow – and the dunes began to breathe.
Namibia continues to undo us, one dune at a time.
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A Lodge Like a Whisper
Back at Sossus Dune Lodge now. Tired in a way that feels earned.
Dinner was game meat and storytelling. The Milky Way already spilling across the sky.
There’s no Wi-Fi here. Just stars and that rare kind of stillness that wraps around your bones and whispers: you really lived today.
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What the Desert Taught Us Today
We came here for wonder.
We found that. But also:
- Resilience. Even beauty takes effort. Sometimes especially beauty.
- Partnership. There’s nothing like the desert to test (and reaffirm) 30+ years together.
- Humor. If you can’t laugh at yourself in the sand… you’re just covered in sand and sad.
- Perspective. The world is vast. We are small. But small doesn’t mean insignificant.
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Final Thoughts
Today didn’t go to plan. It went better. Because we earned this feeling.
We hiked and laughed and fell apart and came back together.
And tomorrow, the desert gets a little quieter. But tonight? We’re still humming with it.
#Deadvlei #Sossusvlei #NamibDesert #NamibiaTravel #LuxuryAdventure #RealTravelMoments #FeelSmallFeelAlive #CinematicJourneys #DesertLaughs #TravelWithFeeling
37 Frames
