Thundercloud Dead Vlei

I've never seen a look like this from Namib photos. I love the soft color and dramatic sky.

- Dan.

Probably what life will look like when they find it on Mars....

Great depth is portrayed by the winding sand. All the trees eventually capture the eye. The color of the sky is intriguing.

Nice capture in a desolate settting.

the fisch

a really different view of dead vlei... I don't suppose a little rain will do any good at this point

hendrik - welcome to NPN! the colours here really make this outstanding from other dead vlei photos. it might benefit, for our enjoyment with a little sharpening-for-web! look forward to seeing more.

Very dramatic Hendrik, and for my ignorance what is a vlei?

Very nice... I love the drama of the dead stuff. A little boost in contrast might help, but this is very pleasing as presented.

Hey Bill,

No problem with the ignorance. let me explain quickly. There are some words in Afrikaans that cannot be translated directly into English and two that immediately come to mind are "Vlei" & "Fynbos"

Vlei is in actual fact a shallow marsh or wetland. In this case the water has "disappeared" and the resulting highly saline/carbonate residue left is actually highly toxic to plants. Thus while the Afrikaans word for "Dead" is "Dooie" and was translated as such the word "Vlei" could not in this context be translated with the word "marsh". So "Dooie Vlei" became "Dead Vlei"

Although the other word "Fynbos" is not applicable to this post you may come across it sometime in the future.

"Fynbos" describe a certain vegetation type which is endemic to the Cape Province and specifically to the Western Cape of South Africa and the word has no equivalent in English or any other language for that matter. The plants that make up the "Fynbos Biome" are mainly proteas, ericas, restios and a few other minor plant families.