Deep
in the center of the Namib lies the Deadvlei, an arid basin of a former
desert stream which has run dry several hundred years ago. The moving
of the dunes did cut off the swale from the dried out river bed. This
prevented rare flash floods, caused only once in a decade by heavy rain
falls in the hinterland, pouring over the plain. With the permanent
draught the camel-thorn-trees which grew here did die. Only the dead
trunks of the trees, conserved by the extreme draught, did remain and
gave the vlei its name.
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