I think you are right. I saw the one to the left of the face, but thought it was on my monitor. I checked some other shots and found more, typically in dark, flat parts of the image. I Photoshopped them to get rid of the dots. I had the same problem with shots taken by my Otus, so it isn't the lens. I used the 'clean sensor' function on the D800 to see if that takes care of it. Thanks for pointing this out.
The "haze" as you call it is, as far as I know, not smog or pollution of any kind. The distances are so great that ambient particles in the air, like dust, pollen, and insects, occlude very distant objects. This doesn't happen on very cold days, but in hot country you should expect this effect. As for filters, I don't think so, but there are people with more experience than me who could answer this.
AP
Maybe a little rotation / vertical correction?
AP
AP