Just wanted to post a warning for anyone self-driving in Sossussvlei. We recently fell victim to a coordinated blackmail trap set up by corrupt police and park officials on the deeper sand route coming out of Deadvlei. Here is exactly how the scam works so you can avoid it: -They park a random tour vehicle dead in the center of the deep sand track so it looks completely stuck, blocking the only way forward. -Because the route is blocked, cars (including ours and several others) are forced to briefly detour onto the side sand to get around the "stuck" car. -The absolute second your tires leave the established track (even if it is still a sand road with no vegetation), someone (in this case a tour driver in the beat up van) waiting in ambush jump out and corner you. They aggressively accuse you of "illegal off-roading" to extort you and take photos of your car and report you to the park - .this happened to us and three other couples that we witnessed. When I realized what was happening at the gate where we were detained and called the lead officer out for scamming us, he became verbally abusive and started saying sexist, racist, and classist things. Being detained in the remote desert with an aggressive, corrupt official who is actively abusing his power is an unpleasant situation to be in and a surprise for a national park to say the least. We were eventually forced to pay $1100 ND (cash only of course) for them to give us back our passports and hand us an “admission of guilt” form which we did not sign. If you are driving to Deadvlei and the road is blocked by a "stuck" vehicle, don’t go around it. Stop your car, stay on the designated track, and wait it out. Do not give them any excuse to claim you drove off-road. If you have a dashcam, make sure it is running. Stay safe out there, and please pass this on to anyone you know traveling to Sossusvlei soon. If any locals have tips on who to report this warden to, I’d appreciate the heads up. Thank you!!   submitted by   /u/FawnLeibowitz_ [link]   [comments]