Suspended in time, a sense of waiting pervades this valley where nothing has happened for a thousand years. The shadow of an ancient Camel thorn tree reaches out, like a blackened hand to the tracings of the Tsauchab River, yearning for the life that once was. The petrified trees of Deadvlei are estimated to be in excess of 800 years old. They died when the movement of the dunes diverted the Tsauchab River elsewhere.