What grows in the desert of sugar. The Sahara is the largest of the hot deserts in the world. Modern desert flora

The Sahara is the largest and hottest desert in the world, and its inhabitants must constantly fight for survival. Only the hardiest species of animals live here.

About a quarter of today's Sahara is covered with sand, among which there are no signs of life. Such sandy deserts are called "erg" in Arabic. They were formed on the old plains caused by the rivers. The rest of the Sahara desert is pebbly "reggae" deserts that form on plateaus and hill plains. Stony and gravelly wastelands are called "hamads".

The modern relief of the desert was formed under the influence of precipitation, which in ancient times was plentiful. The rains are still changing the landscape of the desert, but the main role in this is played by the sand, which is slowly moving. It has polishing properties and “polishes” the surrounding rocks to a shine, exudes depressions at their foot, and breaks through some. Therefore, the local relief is constantly changing, acquiring new features.


  • Eastern Sahara is the sunniest place on earth. The sun shines here 4,000 hours a year, that is, almost 11 hours a day.
  • The world's most venomous fat-tailed scorpion lives in the Sahara. A person bitten by him dies after four hours, and a dog in a matter of minutes.
  • Sometimes strong gusts of wind raise small particles of sand into the atmosphere, they are carried by air currents to the very Alps. Then the snow in the mountains becomes red.
  • In the Libyan city of El Aziziya, which is located in the northern part of the desert, the highest air temperature on Earth was recorded: +58 ° C in the shade.
  • The Sahara covers a surface area of ​​nine million square kilometers. It is located in North Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, and is almost the size of the United States.

Birds of the Sahara


Sandgrouse nest in the desert, flying long distances for water. When the male grouse drinks, the feathers on his chest are saturated with water, which he carries to the chicks.

Climate and vegetation

Most of the Sahara does not receive even 100 mm of precipitation per year, while for Central Europe the norm is about 1000 mm. In some parts of the Sahara, it does not rain for years, and only a sudden change in the weather brings the desired moisture. Often the morning dew is the only source of water for the animals that inhabit the desert.

During the day in the desert there is unbearable heat, and at night it is cold. Desert plants can be divided into two groups. The first includes most species with a branched root system and liquid leaves.

Plants of the second group, which are also called ephemera, give rise to seeds that, in anticipation of moisture, can lie in the soil for many years. After the first rain, it produces sprouts that quickly bloom and bear fruit - this happens in a short time, not exceeding two weeks. However, the date palm is not included in any of the groups mentioned.

Reptiles, amphibians and insects

Scorpions and spiders living in the Sahara get most of the water they need from food. The bodies of many of them are covered with a chitinous shell, which limits the excretion of fluid from the body. In addition, most insects secrete wax, which envelops the body with a protective film.

Insects, such as locusts, during rain begin to multiply at a tremendous rate. Insects and other invertebrates become a source of fluid for lizards and snakes. On cold nights, many reptiles go into a stupor as their blood circulation slows down.

In the morning they take sunbaths and, having warmed up, go hunting. The air temperature is dangerous, so many lizards hide underground at noon. Snakes, such as the horned viper, burrow deep into the cool, damp sand. Amphibians need water to reproduce. Frogs Vif tasheiapist find a way out by laying eggs in puddles formed after rain.

mammals

Most large mammals, if they got into the desert, would quickly die from heatstroke and dehydration. Swift-footed gazelles adapted to the difficult conditions of the Sahara. Gazelle-Dorcas spends her whole life looking for plants that will give her at least some water.

Fenech.

Sahara Desert

(North Africa)

A truly endless sea of ​​sand, stone and clay scorched by the sun, revived only by rare green spots of oases and a single river - this is what the Sahara is. The gigantic scale of this largest desert in the world is simply amazing. Its territory occupies almost eight million square kilometers - it is larger than Australia and only slightly smaller than Brazil. Its hot expanses stretch for five thousand kilometers from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.

Nowhere else on Earth is there such a huge waterless space. There are places in the interior of the Sahara where it doesn't rain for years. So, in the oasis of In-Salah, in the heart of the desert, for eleven years, from 1903 to 1913, it rained only once - in 1910, and only eight millimeters of rain fell.

These days, the Sahara is not so difficult to access. From the city of Algiers on a good highway to the desert can be reached in one day. Through the picturesque gorge of El Kantara - "Gateway to the Sahara" - the traveler finds himself in places that by their landscape do not at all resemble the "sandy sea" he expected with golden waves of dunes. To the left and right of the road, which runs along a rocky and clay plain, small rocks rise, to which the wind and sand have given the intricate outlines of fairy-tale castles and towers.

Sandy deserts - ergs - occupy less than a quarter of the entire territory of the Sahara, the rest falls on the share of rocky plains, as well as clayey areas cracked from the scorching heat and salt marshes white with salt, giving rise to deceptive mirages in the unsteady haze of heated air.

In general, the Sahara is a vast plateau, a table, the flat character of which is broken only by the depressions of the Nile and Niger valleys and Lake Chad. On this plain, only in three places do truly high, albeit small in area, mountain ranges rise. These are the Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands and the Darfur plateau, rising more than three kilometers above sea level.

The mountainous, gorge-cut, absolutely dry landscapes of Ahaggar are often compared to lunar landscapes. But under the natural rocky canopies, archaeologists have discovered here a whole art gallery of the Stone Age. The rock paintings of ancient people depicted elephants and hippos, crocodiles and giraffes, rivers with floating boats and people harvesting ... All this suggests that the climate of the Sahara used to be more humid, and savannas were once located in most of the current desert.

Now they are found only on the slopes of the Tibesti highlands and the flat, elevated plains of Darfur, where for a month or two a year, while it rains, real rivers even flow through the gorges, and abundant springs feed the oases with water all year round.

In the rest of the Sahara, precipitation is less than two hundred and fifty millimeters per year. Geographers call such areas arid regions. They are unsuitable for agriculture, and herds of sheep and camels can only be driven over them in search of scarce food.

Here are the hottest places on our planet. For example, in Libya there are areas where the heat reaches fifty-eight degrees! And in some areas of Ethiopia, even the average annual temperature does not fall below plus thirty-five.

The sun governs all life in the Sahara. Its radiation, taking into account rare cloudiness, low air humidity and lack of vegetation, reaches very high values. The daily temperatures here are characterized by large jumps. The difference between day and night temperatures reaches thirty degrees! Sometimes frosts occur at night in February, and on Ahaggar or Tibesti the temperature can drop to minus eighteen degrees.

Of all the atmospheric phenomena, the traveler endures prolonged storms the hardest in the Sahara. The desert wind, hot and dry, causes hardship even when it is transparent, but it is even more difficult for travelers when it carries dust or fine grains of sand. Dust storms are more common than sandstorms. The Sahara is perhaps the dustiest place on earth. These storms look from afar like fires quickly covering everything around, clouds of smoke from which rise high into the sky. With furious force they rush through the plains and mountains, blowing dust from the destroyed rocks on their way.

Storms in the Sahara have extraordinary strength. The wind speed sometimes reaches fifty meters per second (remember that thirty meters per second is already a hurricane!). Caravaneers say that sometimes heavy camel saddles are carried away by the wind for two hundred meters, and stones, the size of a chicken egg, roll along the ground like peas.

Quite often, tornadoes occur when the very heated air from the earth heated by the sun rapidly rises, capturing fine dust and carrying it high into the sky. Therefore, such whirlwinds are visible from afar, which, as a rule, allows the rider to save his life by avoiding a meeting with the "desert genie", as the Bedouins call the tornado. A gray column rises into the air to the very clouds. Pilots met dust devils sometimes at a height of one and a half kilometers. It happens that the wind carries Saharan dust across the Mediterranean Sea to Southern Europe.

On the vast Saharan plains, the wind almost always blows. It is estimated that there are only six calm days in the desert for a hundred days. Especially notorious are the hot winds of the Northern Sahara, which can destroy the entire crop in the oasis in a few hours. These winds - sirocco - blow more often in early summer. In Egypt, such a wind is called khamsin (literally - "fifty"), since it usually blows for fifty days after the vernal equinox. During his almost two-month rampage, the window glass, not closed by the shutters, becomes dull - this is how grains of sand carried by the wind scratch it.

And when there is calm in the Sahara and the air is filled with dust, there is a "dry fog" known to all travelers. At the same time, visibility completely disappears, and the sun seems to be a dull spot and does not give a shadow. Even wild animals lose their bearings at such moments. They say that there was a case when, during the "dry fog", usually very shy gazelles calmly walked in a caravan, walking between people and camels.

Sahara likes to be reminded of herself unexpectedly. It happens that the caravan sets off when nothing foretells bad weather. The air is still clean and calm, but some strange heaviness is already spreading in it. Gradually, the sky on the horizon begins to turn pink, then takes on a purple hue. It is somewhere far away that the wind has picked up and drives the red sands of the desert towards the caravan. Soon, the cloudy sun barely breaks through the rapidly rushing sandy clouds. It becomes difficult to breathe, it seems that the sand has displaced the air and filled everything around. Hurricane winds rush at speeds up to hundreds of kilometers per hour. Sand burns, chokes, knocks down. Such a storm sometimes lasts a week, and woe to those whom it caught on the way.

But if the weather is calm in the Sahara and the sky is not covered with wind-blown dust, it is difficult to find a more beautiful sight than a sunset in the desert. Perhaps only the aurora borealis makes a greater impression on the traveler. The sky in the rays of the setting sun each time strikes with a new combination of shades - it is both blood-red and pink-pearl, imperceptibly merging with pale blue. All this is piled up on the horizon in several floors, it burns and sparkles, growing into some kind of bizarre, fabulous forms, and then gradually fades away. Then, almost instantly, an absolutely black night sets in, the darkness of which even the bright southern stars cannot dispel.

Of course, the most desirable and most picturesque places in the Sahara are the oases.

The Algerian oasis of El Ouedd lies in the golden yellow sands of the Great East Erg. An asphalt highway connects it with the outside world, but it only appears as such on the map. In many places, the wide roadbed is thoroughly covered with sand. A good two-thirds of the telegraph poles are buried in it, and teams of workers with shovels and whisks are constantly raking drifts, first in one area, then in another. After all, the wind blows here all year round. And even a weak breeze, tearing off the tops of sandy dune hills, steadily moves sandy waves from place to place. With a strong wind, traffic on the roads of the desert sometimes stops completely, and not for one day.

Like all oases of the Sahara, El Ouedd is surrounded by a palm grove. Date palms are the basis of life for the locals. In other oases, in order to give them water to drink, irrigation systems are arranged, but in El Ouedd it is easier. In the dry bed of the river flowing through the oasis, they dig deep funnel holes and plant palm trees in them. Water always flows under the rusdom at a depth of five or six meters, so that the roots of palm trees planted in this way easily reach the level of the underground stream, and they do not need irrigation.

In each funnel grows from fifty to one hundred palm trees. The sinkholes are arranged in rows along the channel, and they are all threatened by a common enemy - sand. To prevent the slopes from sliding, the edges of the funnels are strengthened with wattle from palm branches, but the sand still seeps down. You have to take it all year round on donkeys or carry it on yourself in baskets. In the summer, in the heat, this hard work can only be done at night, by the light of torches or in the glow of the full moon. Water wells are also dug in these funnels. It is enough for drinking and for watering gardens. Camel droppings serve as fertilizer.

Dates and camel milk are the main food of fellah farmers. A valuable nutmeg variety of dates is sold and even exported to Europe.

The capital of the Algerian Sahara - the oasis of Ouargla - differs from other oases in that it has ... a real lake. This tiny town in the middle of the desert has a reservoir of four hundred hectares, huge by local standards. It was formed from water discharged from palm plantations after irrigation. Water is always supplied to the fields and date groves in excess, otherwise evaporation will lead to the accumulation of salts in the soil. Excess water, along with salts, is discharged into a depression next to the oasis. This is how artificial lakes appear in the Sahara.

True, most of them are not as large as in Ouargla, and do not withstand a deadly struggle with sand and sun. Most often, these are just swampy depressions, the surface of which is covered with a dense, transparent, like glass, layer of salt.

But oases in the Sahara are rare, and one has to get from one "island of life" to another along the endless roads of the desert, overcoming the heat of the sun, hot wind, dust and ... the temptation to turn off the road. Such a temptation often arises among travelers both on ancient caravan trails and on modern paved highways in these inhospitable lands.

When the desired outlines of an oasis appear on the horizon in front of a traveler exhausted by a long journey, the Arab guide only shakes his head negatively. He knows that there are still tens of kilometers to the oasis under the scorching sun, and what the traveler sees "with his own eyes" is just a mirage.

This optical illusion sometimes misleads even experienced people. Experienced travelers who have passed through the sands on more than one expeditionary route and have studied the desert for more than one year have also become victims of mirages. When you see palm groves and a lake, white clay houses and a mosque with a high minaret at a short distance, it is hard to believe that in reality they are several hundred kilometers away. Experienced caravan guides sometimes fell under the power of a mirage. One day, sixty people and ninety camels died in the desert, following a mirage that carried them sixty kilometers away from the well.

In ancient times, travelers, in order to make sure whether it was a mirage in front of them or reality, kindled a fire. If even a small breeze blew in the desert, then the smoke creeping along the ground quickly dispersed the mirage. For many caravan routes, maps have been drawn up, which indicate places where mirages are often found. These maps even mark what exactly is seen in one place or another: wells, oases, palm groves, mountain ranges, and so on.

And yet, in our time, when two modern highways ran through the great desert from north to south, when multi-colored autocaravans of the Paris-Dakar rally rush through it every year, and artesian wells drilled along the roads allow, in case of anything, to walk to the nearest source of water, the Sahara gradually passes to be that fatal place that European travelers feared more than the Arctic snows and the Amazonian jungle.

Increasingly, inquisitive tourists, fed up with beach idleness and contemplation of the ruins of Carthage and other picturesque ruins, go by car or on a camel into the depths of this unique region of the planet to inhale a sip of the night wind on the slopes of Ahaggar, hear the rustle of palm crowns in the green coolness of the oasis, see the graceful run gazelles and admire the colors of the Sahara sunsets. And next to their caravan, the mysterious guardians of the peace of this hot, but beautiful land, dusty-gray, whirled by the wind, "desert genies" are running along the roadside with a quiet rustle.

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (C) author Brockhaus F. A.

From the book Records in the natural world author Lyakhova Kristina Alexandrovna

Sahara The world's largest desert, the Sahara, covers 7,820,000 km2 of sandy and rocky expanses. It extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, from the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean coast in the north to 15° north latitude in the south, where

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (GI) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (LI) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (NU) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (PU) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (RE) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (SI) of the author TSB

From the book 100 great wonders of nature the author Wagner Bertil

Sahara Desert (North Africa) A truly endless sea of ​​sand, stone and clay scorched by the sun, enlivened only by rare green spots of oases and a single river - that's what the Sahara is. The gigantic scale of this largest desert in the world is simply amazing.

From the book The Newest Book of Facts. Volume 1 [Astronomy and astrophysics. Geography and other earth sciences. Biology and Medicine] author

What was the Sahara Desert like during the Ice Age? During the ice age, a significant part of Europe was covered with ice, which is why it rained much more often in North Africa than today, and therefore the current Sahara desert was a green country. The drying up of the Sahara has begun

From the book 3333 tricky questions and answers author Kondrashov Anatoly Pavlovich

What was the Sahara Desert like during the Ice Age? During the ice age, a significant part of Europe was covered with ice, which is why it rained much more often in North Africa than today, and therefore the current Sahara desert was a green country. The drying up of the Sahara has begun

From the book The Complete Encyclopedia of Our Delusions author

From the book The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Our Delusions [with illustrations] author Mazurkevich Sergey Alexandrovich

Desert Our ideas about the desert are associated with heat, lack of water, cloudless sky, mercilessly scorching sun. We think of dust storms we ourselves have experienced or heard and read about, of shifting sands or unvegetated clay soils.

From The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Our Delusions [with transparent pictures] author Mazurkevich Sergey Alexandrovich

Desert Our ideas about the desert are associated with heat, lack of water, cloudless sky, mercilessly scorching sun. We think of dust storms we ourselves have experienced or heard and read about, of shifting sands or unvegetated clay soils.

From the book The Newest Book of Facts. Volume 1. Astronomy and astrophysics. Geography and other earth sciences. Biology and medicine author Kondrashov Anatoly Pavlovich

From the book Emergency Survival Textbook the author Molodan Igor

Desert (savannah) The daily rate of water consumption in the desert is at least 4 liters. Open reservoirs. Rivers, lakes and streams of oases. Water in oases is polluted, has a lot of mechanical impurities and is saturated with microorganisms, so it can be consumed only after filtering

Where is the Sahara Desert located?

The Sahara Desert is the largest SANDY desert on our planet and it is located in the northern part of the African continent. It also ranks second as the largest desert in the world in terms of area, giving way to the Antarctic Desert. The area of ​​the Sahara occupies about 8.6 million km2 and partially occupies the territory of 10 states. From west to east its length is 4800 m, and from south to north its length ranges from 800 to 1200 meters. At the same time, the size of the desert is not constant; it grows annually by 6-10 km from south to north.

Sahara desert landscape

The landscape of the Sahara consists of 70% of the plains and 30% of the Tibesti and Ahaggar uplands, the stepped plateaus of Adrar-Iforas, Air, Ennedi, Tademait, etc., as well as cuesta ridges.

Climate of the Sahara Desert

The climate of the desert is divided into subtropical in the north and tropical in the south of the desert. In the northern part of the desert, there are large fluctuations in temperature, both annual and average daily. In winter, the temperature can drop to -18 degrees in the mountains. Summer, on the other hand, is very hot. The soil can warm up to 70-80 degrees Celsius.

In the southern part of the desert, temperature fluctuations are slightly less, but also in winter the temperature in the mountains can drop below zero degrees Celsius. Winters are milder and dryer.

The desert is characterized by a large fluctuation in temperatures at night and during the day. This figure is voiced up to 30-40 degrees difference between night and day temperatures! Therefore, it is sometimes impossible to do without warm clothes there at night, as the temperature can drop below zero. Also in the desert there are often sandstorms, in which the wind can reach up to 50 meters per second. The central parts of the desert may not see rain for years, and other parts may even experience heavy downpours. In other words, the Sahara desert is full of surprises in terms of weather.

The Sahara Desert is an amazing place. It is incredible how animals, plants, and people have been able to adapt to life in this part of the earth, given the constant drought and heat.

1) In terms of size, the desert is like half of Russia, or the whole of Brazil!
The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, covering 30% of Africa. But this is half of the Russian Federation, or the entire area of ​​Brazil, which is in fifth place in terms of the area of ​​countries on Earth.

2) "Sea without water." In Arabic, the Sahara is a desert, and some people called it the “Sea without Water”, because once upon a time there were many rivers and lakes in its place.

3) Mars on Earth. The desert dunes move from a couple of centimeters to hundreds of meters per year, and the dunes themselves resemble the landscapes of Mars! Sometimes they reach a height of 300 meters!

4) There are fewer and fewer oases. Near the oases, villages and cities usually appear, but every year there are fewer and fewer oases.

5) The average temperature in the desert is about 40 degrees Celsius! The sand itself is heated up to 80 degrees Celsius! But at night the temperature can drop to -15 degrees Celsius.

6) Over the past fifty years, storms have begun to appear more and more often, in some places their occurrence has increased forty times!

7) There are 3 million people living in the Sahara. However, earlier there were more people, once upon a time, caravans of merchants passed through the desert, carrying various riches. But the passage through the entire desert took 1.5 years!

8) The roots of some plants are at a depth of 20 meters! In this way, plants try to get water for themselves in order to retain it for a long time and use it carefully.

9) There are about 4 thousand different species of animals and plants in the Sahara.

10) Camels live without water for 14 days, and without food as much as 30! They can smell moisture for 50 kilometers, and drink a hundred liters of water at a time! And they don't sweat at all! Their humps are fat, thanks to which they can exist for a long time without food.

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We say "desert" - we mean "Sahara", and in Arabic there is no other word for desert except for the actual "sugar". And this is no coincidence: the Sahara is the largest sandy area on the globe, stretching in North Africa from the Red Sea to the Atlantic for almost five thousand kilometers. Dunes reaching a height of 300 meters, many kilometers of ideally flat areas of saline soil, lush oases and endless dunes that go beyond the horizon - all this makes up one of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. However, despite the area of ​​more than 8 million km, the Sahara is not so easy to visit, which is to blame for the extremely turbulent political situation in the region. However, you can still take a glimpse of the majesty of the desert at least out of the corner of your eye - the main thing is to know where and when to go.

The Sahara lies within the borders of eleven states, but you can visit without problems, perhaps, only three of them - Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco.

A bit of geography and politics

The Sahara occupies almost the entire area of ​​North Africa from the Mediterranean Sea to 16°N latitude, except for the rather narrow coastline of the continent, which is characterized by lush vegetation. Its area is 8.6 million km, which is about a third of the total area of ​​the African continent. From west to east, the desert stretches for 4800 km, and from north to south its length is from 800 to 1200 km.

Contrary to popular belief, the Sahara is not only sand dunes and rare oases. The landscape here is no less diverse than in other natural areas: there are rocky plateaus, salt marshes, volcanic formations, highlands and ridges. The sandy areas of the Sahara are called ergs, they are only 25% of the total desert area. And rocky areas are called "reg".

The Sahara lies within the borders of eleven states - Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Sudan and Chad. You can visit without problems, perhaps, only three of them - Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. However, the most breathtaking landscapes lie, alas, in Algeria, Libya, Chad and Niger, which are difficult for tourists to reach.

Climate in the region

The northern part of the Sahara (which is most often visited by tourists) is influenced by a dry subtropical climate with relatively cool winters and hot summers. The average daily temperature of the summer season is about +37...+39 °C, at night the thermometer drops to +28...+30 °C. Winter is characterized by strong temperature fluctuations between daytime and nighttime: during the day the air warms up to +15 ... +17 ° С, while at night there may be zero readings or even frosts. Strong southerly winds are not uncommon, bringing masses of sand - on such days, life in the Sahara freezes.

In the southern regions of the Sahara, the climate is tropical - summers are even hotter here, winters are colder.

It is best to visit the "civilized" Sahara (that is, its northern part) from October to early May, while daytime temperatures have not yet become unbearable. If you are going to the Sahara for a few days, it is worth remembering that in December and January the nights are very cool, and you will need a warm sleeping bag. In June and September, you can visit the Sahara only if you tolerate high temperatures well.

Sahara civilized

So, where should a traveler who decides to see the indescribable beauty of the Sahara desert go? The choice, frankly, is not great: Africa is generally not among the prosperous regions of the globe, and Northern and Central - in particular.

Tunisia

The Tunisian south protrudes like a long narrow dagger into the Sahara - to the greatest "depth" in comparison with other "desert-possessing" countries accessible to the public. The landscapes of Tunisia were not the most outstanding, but not dull either. The “chip” of the Tunisian Sahara is a wide variety of landscapes: you can see crescent-shaped dunes, and endless salt marshes, and filming locations - Star Wars was filmed on the salt lake Chott el-Jerid and in Matmata, and the camel’s neck mountain lit up in “ English patient.

The gateway to the Sahara Desert in Tunisia is the city of Douz, located on the border of the sands and the oasis of date palms. Its tourist area (and there are about seven very high-quality hotels here) is placed right on the expanses of the Sahara - get off the sidewalk and you will feel the finest, like powder, sand under your feet. Excursions to the Sahara lasting from 1 hour (camel ride to the nearest dunes) to weekly and even two-week expeditions are regularly sent from Douz. Well, those who want to live "visiting the Sahara" can be offered to stay in a hotel in a remote oasis of Ksar Gilan - 147 km south of Douz, a thermal spring and the ruins of the Roman fort Tisavar as a historical excursion.

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Morocco

The southeastern region of Morocco, lying at the foot of the High Atlas Mountains, is the most convenient region of the Sahara for tourists to visit. In addition to the amazing landscapes - red dunes and exotic fortresses, many of which "participated" in the filming of many films (Ait Benhaddou is the most famous), there is also a natural and historical attraction - the Draa Valley. This is a whole wonderful world of lush oases, fortified Kasbah forts and Berber settlements. Once upon a time, it was here that the difficult 52-day journey of trans-Saharan caravans, carrying precious goods from the capital of the ancient empire of Mali, Timbuktu, ended.

Today, popular excursions begin in the settlement of M'Hamid, from where tourists are transported along a picturesque 40-kilometer route to the heart of the Moroccan Sahara - Erg Shigaga. The second run-in route starts in the town of Merzouga, east of M'Hamid, and continues through the territory of another erg - Shebbi. It is here that a really brilliant collection of eternal dunes appears before the eyes of the traveler.

Egypt

The western regions of Egypt - although a vast, but not very interesting region of the Sahara - especially in comparison with the landscapes of hard-to-reach countries. However, in order to get an idea of ​​the desert, this area is quite suitable. More interesting here are the oases to the south of Siwa - a chain of lush emerald bushes, connected by roads barely visible on the rocky surface of the desert. In Siwa itself, among other things, you can see a medieval hut fortress and a temple dating from the time of Alexander the Great.

The southern oases of Al Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra and Bahariya are ideal starting points for excursions into the heart of the desert - by camel, 4x4 jeep or on your own. Outside the last settlements, the vast expanses of the White and Black deserts (they are all parts of the Sahara) and the picturesque Crystal Mountains begin, and even further south lie the filming locations for another scene of The English Patient - the Cave of Swimmers and the Gilf-Kebir plateau, on which once existed the oasis of Zerzura that disappeared without a trace.

Sugar hard to reach

The most magnificent landscapes of the Sahara lie, which is not surprising, in its inner regions - it is here that the highest 300-meter dunes are located, sands of shades from rich yellow and ocher-red to faint pink and almost white sing their songs, and dunes roam. Unfortunately, the situation in the region leaves much to be desired: the South Saharan countries are regularly shaken by internal conflicts, and tourism here is either simply not developed or is completely dangerous.

Algeria

Algeria is the country with the highest amount of sugar "in the blood" and the safest of the hard-to-reach countries. 80% of its territory is occupied by the sands of this great desert. The sandy seas of the Sahara in Algeria are the longest and most deserted, and in the southeast of the country you can see the fantastic landscapes of the Ahaggar highlands and the Tassili mountains. By the way, in the Tassil mountains there is one of the oldest caves with rock art - an honorary member of the UNESCO List. Tourism here is at an embryonic level - excursions will be offered with pleasure, but the organization will not shine, and there are almost no hunters to take risks. Nevertheless, for the future: among the “non-sandy” pearls of the Algerian Sahara are the cities of Ouargla, the “golden key to the desert”, Mzab with its fantastic architecture and Beni Isgen behind the impressive fortress gates.

Libya

Libya, alas, is lost to the world in general and tourism in particular, so one can only dream of traveling to the Libyan Sahara. This is doubly disappointing, since it is here that one of the most incredible landscapes of the desert is located - the volcanic mountains of Acacus. Black basalt rocks rise directly from the sands of the central Sahara - and it seems that we are not at all on planet Earth. The area is on the UNESCO List - not only because of the landscapes, but also because of the prehistoric rock paintings and inscriptions, some of which are over 12 thousand years old. Another must-see place is the Tuareg citadel, the oasis of the Ghats.

It is definitely not worth going to Chad, Niger and Mali to get acquainted with the Sahara without armed guards.

Mauritania

Mauritania is not as inaccessible to those suffering from the Sahara as it might seem, and among active independent travelers from Europe continues to be a popular destination for car and motor rallies. It is easy to enter here from Morocco, a visa will cost from 50 to 95 EUR, permission to enter by personal transport can also be obtained without problems. However, this direction is definitely for daredevils - although the country is quite safe compared to its neighbors in the region, no one will give guarantees of returning safe and sound. Of the interesting - the endless desert plateau Adrar, where you can understand the scale of the Sahara as well as possible. Prices on the page are for August 2018.

Chad, Niger, Mali

Despite popular belief, the Sahara desert on the map is by no means the largest in the world. In fact, in terms of its area, it is inferior to the Antarctic desert, but among the hot deserts and located on the inhabited continents, the Sahara is the undisputed leader.

Sahara desert on the map of the world and Africa

The Sahara is the greatest desert in the world, not by its size, but by its influence on history and modern life. Mankind lived in the Sahara many millennia ago, as evidenced by more than 3 thousand rock paintings in various parts of the desert.

And now the Sahara has a huge impact on the political, economic and cultural life of North Africa.

Because of their huge The size of the Sahara is characterized by a rather diverse climate, soil type, living conditions and local inhabitants - from the Arabs in the north to the Negro peoples in the south of the desert.

What continent is it on?

The Sahara is located in the northern part African continent and extends from the coast in the north to the tropical savannas of the Sahel in the south at 16 ° N. sh., from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the east of the continent.

Which country does it belong to?

The following African states are wholly or partially located on the territory of the Sahara:

  • Libya;
  • Tunisia;
  • Algeria;
  • West Sahara;
  • Mauritania;
  • Mali;
  • Niger;
  • Chad;
  • Sudan.

History of origin and name

Scientists believe that in 5th-4th millennium BC e. trees grew on the territory of the Sahara, the earth's surface was covered with grasses and shrubs, and water resources were represented by numerous lakes.

Presumably, complex desertification began at the same time due to a decrease in moisture and the predominance of evaporation of moisture over precipitation.

Cause This could be both natural factors (climate change) and an anthropogenic factor - the transition of local tribes to a pastoral type of animal husbandry, which led to desertification. On the other hand, such a transition could be caused by the transformation of the once flourishing savannahs into a desert.

Be that as it may, for about a thousand years The Sahara turned into a desert, and the process of desertification was completed by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e.

The name Sahara is believed to be derived from the Arabic word "ṣaḥārā" which means "desert". Another version of the origin of the name is from the Arabic "sahra", which means "red-brown". The name of the desert has been recorded since the 1st century AD. e. after the Arabic-speaking tribes reached the Sahara.

If acquaintance with the Sahara is accompanied by a vacation in Tunisia, then find out what the weather conditions are in the country for months.

Climatic conditions

The climate of the Sahara deserted(arid), a characteristic feature of which is the predominance of evaporation processes over moisturizing processes.

The southern part of the desert has dry tropical climate with hot summers and mild winters. The amount of precipitation per year is usually about 130 mm. In winter, at night, the air temperature can drop below zero, and in summer it often reaches +50°C.

The northern part of the desert has dry subtropical climate with hot summers and relatively cold winters. The average air temperature in summer reaches +37°C, and in winter in mountainous areas it can drop to -18°C. This part of the desert is characterized by high daily fluctuations in air temperature due to night cooling. The average annual rainfall does not exceed 75 mm.

Sandy sea - what is it?

Sahara - active desert, which annually increases its area, moving south by 10 km.

Characteristics of the Endless Sands

About a quarter of the sugar is made up of sand dunes, a quarter - from mountains of volcanic origin, and half from barren rocky plains and rocks. The area of ​​the territory of sustainable vegetation does not exceed a few percent.

One of the reasons for the dryness of the Sahara is the presence of the Atlas Mountains in the north of the desert, which block the access of humid Mediterranean air to the Sahara.

The central part of the Sahara, where the least amount of annual precipitation is observed (no more than 20 mm per year) is one of the most lifeless places on earth. The average biomass in this part of the desert drops to 2 kg/ha or less.

Square the desert is almost 9 million km², which is equal to almost 30% of the territory of Africa. The desert stretches for 4.8 thousand km from west to east and for 1.2 thousand km from north to south.

Water sources in the Sahara are:

  1. artesian groundwater, above the surface of which oases are located;
  2. rainwater, which fills gelts (ponds or natural puddles) and wadis (drying channels of ancient rivers filled with rainwater);
  3. major rivers on the outskirts of the desert (Nile, Niger).

Flora and fauna

A significant part of the desert has no vegetation at all and is a classic sand. Mostly dry climate-resistant plants grow in oases and high-altitude areas (grass, small shrubs and trees). Oases grow a variety of cultivated plants: dates, olives, figs, vegetables.

Fauna The Sahara is mainly represented by various species of rodents and reptiles, as well as birds, more than half of which are migratory. Large mammals include antelopes, rams, Nubian donkey. Predators - spotted hyena and cheetah. Most of the animals of the Sahara are active at night, when the heat is not so great.

For those wishing to visit the deeper places of the Sahara, it is recommended to get to Erga Shigaga- a conglomerate of sand dunes in the heart of the Moroccan Sahara. There is a campground here, where tourists can expect all the benefits of civilization available in the desert.

Picturesque Shigaga, which measures 30 by 15 km, exceeds any expectations: countless untouched dunes, almost devoid of vegetation, stretch to the end of the horizon.

Another popular route in the Moroccan Sahara is a trip to Ergu Shebbi through the village of Merzouga. Erg Chebbi is as colorful as Shigagu, but getting to him is a little more difficult.

Mauritania

Mauritania is located almost entirely within the Sahara, but trips here are rare due to the poverty of the local population, the lack of infrastructure and the rather high crime rate in the country.

For those who decide on a tour to this exotic country, it will be interesting to visit Adrar plateau, which houses the UNESCO World Heritage sites - the villages of Ouadan and Chinguetti. On the plateau itself, despite its lifelessness, there are more than 20 large oases, including the rather large city of Atar.

Algeria

Algeria is a country with greatest the territory of the Sahara in its composition, more than 80% of the country's area is occupied by the desert.

The most stunning desert landscapes are located in the southeastern part of Algiers at the foot of the Tassili mountains.

Tassil Plateau- one of the objects of the UNESCO list, the oldest petroglyphs were found in local caves, the age of which is from 2 to 9 thousand years.

Others man-made attractions Algerian Sahara are:

  1. city ​​of Ouargla;
  2. Mzab valley with fortified cities.

These settlements are of great value from a historical and architectural point of view and were founded and built up in the 10th century. Ibadis- a branch of Muslims, different from Sunnis and Shiites.

Of the natural attractions of the Algerian part of the Sahara stands out Ahaggar highlands in the south of Algeria, consisting of volcanic remnants of bizarre forms. The Ahaggar National Park is open on the territory, and the guides of tourists are local Tuareg residents, who will be interesting to get acquainted with the peculiar culture of any tourist.



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