Gleber Amaral
DEADVLEI
"We are thorn between nostalgia for familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. We are homesick most for
the places we have never known."
Carson McCullers
HELLO THERE!
Wandering through skeletons of the dead trees surrounded by some of the world's highest sand dunes and under the clearest skies on the planet, Deadvlei gives a sense of wonder and astonishment. One must reflect on the resilience and endurance of these trees to stand tall for more than 600 years. Among the towering red dunes. The clan is a strange alien landscape, an extraordinary place; it feels like walking inside a Salvador Dali painting: you may start imagining melting clocks hanging down from the branches.
Deadvlei is a white clay pan located in the Namib-Naukluf Park in Namibia. (Vlei means a lake or marsh between the dunes). The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab river flooded, creating temporary shallow pools which allowed Camel thorn trees to grow. when the climate changed, drought hit the area and sand dunes surrounded the pan isolating the river from the area. The trees died with the lack of water. The remaining skeletons of the trees are believed to have died 600 - 700 years ago and whilst darkened because of the intense sun they are not petrified, the wood does not decompose because it is so dry.
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