The best time to visit Sossusvlei
The dunes look the same all twelve months — what changes is how cold the dawn is, how much sand is in the air and whether the pan holds water.
- Best
- May–July: cold mornings
- Hottest
- December–February: up to 40 at noon
- Rare and special
- February–April
The Namib is the oldest desert on earth and not much changes in it: the dunes are red all year, and the difference is temperature and wind. From May to September the mornings are around five degrees and the air is clear; from December to February it is forty at noon and occasionally rain turns Sossusvlei into a lake.
Rain in the Namib barely exists — a few millimetres a year — so the season is measured not by rainfall but by temperature and wind. Below is month by month, with what each actually changes.
Dry, cold in the morning
The best period and the busiest: days of twenty to twenty-five, mornings around five degrees, clear air and sharp light. This is when the dunes are photographed, and when the camps inside the gate are booked months ahead. June and July are the coldest — at dawn on Elim dune you want a hat, which sounds unbelievable in a desert until you try it.
Hot, emptier
From October the temperature climbs and by January noon passes forty. The dunes still work — but only until nine in the morning and after five in the afternoon, and in between you stay in the air conditioning. The afternoon wind is stronger and lifts sand, so visibility is poorer. In exchange it is far emptier and cheaper, and after the occasional storm the sky carries clouds that make the photograph better than in season.
When Sossusvlei fills with water
A few times a decade, after exceptionally heavy rain inland, the Tsauchab river breaks through to Sossusvlei and the pan becomes a shallow lake with red dunes reflected in it. It happens between February and April and lasts weeks. It cannot be planned; if it happens while you are there, everything else is cancelled.
Month by month
If you only get one — June
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
When is the best time to visit Sossusvlei?
May to September: the mornings are cold and the air clear, so the light is best, and the afternoon wind is lighter than in summer. June is the best if you choose once; July and August are the same with more people.
Do the dunes look different by season?
Not meaningfully. They are red all year, because the colour comes from iron in the sand rather than vegetation. What changes is the temperature, the wind and how many hours a day you can be outside.
Is it true that Sossusvlei sometimes fills with water?
It is, but rarely — a few times a decade, after exceptionally heavy rain, between February and April. The pan becomes a shallow lake with the dunes reflected in it. You do not plan it, you happen to be there.
Ready for Sossusvlei?
Where to next
Sossusvlei in 2 days
→One morning decides the whole visit: the gate opens with the sun, Deadvlei is sixty-five kilometres away, and…
Swakopmund · 239 km
→A German seaside town between the desert and the cold Atlantic, with more than 180 days of fog a year — a rest from the gravel and a base for dunes, lagoon and seals
How well does Sossusvlei suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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