Sahara desert description is short. Hot Sahara Desert on the map

When we say “desert” we mean “Sahara”, and in Arabic There is no other word for desert other than “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 perfectly flat areas of saline soil, lush oases and endless dunes stretching beyond the horizon - all this makes up some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. However, despite an area of more than 8 million km, the Sahara is not so easy to visit, which is due to the extremely turbulent political situation in the region. However, you can still get a glimpse of the majesty of the desert - 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 covers almost the entire area of North Africa from the Mediterranean Sea to 16° northern latitude, with the exception of the continent's rather narrow coastline, which is characterized by lush vegetation. Its area is 8.6 million km2, 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 ranges 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 others. natural areas: there are rocky plateaus, salt marshes, volcanic formations, highlands and ridges. The sandy areas of the Sahara are called ergs; they make up only 25% of the total desert area. And the 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 daytime temperature in the summer is about +37...+39 °C, at night the thermometer drops to +28...+30 °C. Winter is characterized by strong temperature changes between daytime and nighttime: during the day the air warms up to +15...+17 °C, while at night there may be zero readings or even frosts. There are often strong southern winds, bringing masses of sand - on such days life in the Sahara comes to a standstill.

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

It is best to visit the “civilized” Sahara (that is, its northern part) from October to early May, before daytime temperatures become unbearable. If you're visiting the Sahara for a few days, it's worth remembering that in December and January the nights are quite chilly and you'll need a warm sleeping bag. In June and September, you can visit the Sahara only if you can tolerate high temperatures.

Sahara civilized

So, where should a traveler go who decides to see with his own eyes the indescribable beauty of the Sahara Desert? The choice, frankly speaking, is small: Africa is not one of the prosperous regions at all globe, and Northern and Central - in particular.

Tunisia

The Tunisian south juts out into the Sahara like a long narrow dagger - to the greatest “depth” compared to other “desert-possessing” countries accessible to the public. Tunisia's landscapes are not the most outstanding, but not dull either. The “trick” of the Tunisian Sahara is a wide variety of landscapes: you can see crescent-shaped dunes, endless salt marshes, and filming locations - they filmed on the salt lake Chott el-Jerid and in Matmata “ Star wars”, and the “Camel Neck” mountain appeared in “The English Patient”.

The gateway to the Sahara Desert in Tunisia is the city of Douz, located on the border of sand and an oasis of date palms. Its tourist area (and there are about seven very high-quality hotels here) is located directly in the vastness of the Sahara - step off the sidewalk and you will feel the finest sand, like powder, under your feet. Excursions to the Sahara regularly depart from Douz, lasting from 1 hour (a camel ride to the nearest dunes) to week-long or even two-week expeditions. Well, those who want to live “on a visit to the Sahara” can be offered to stay in a hotel in the remote oasis of Ksar Gilan - 147 km south of Douz, a thermal spring and the ruins of the Roman fort of 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 for tourists to visit. mediocre Sahara region. 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 to the Mediterranean Sea, ended ancient empire Mali Timbuktu.

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

Egypt

The western regions of Egypt are a vast, but not very interesting region of the Sahara - especially compared to the landscapes of inaccessible countries. However, in order to get an idea of the desert, this area is quite suitable. More interesting here are the oases 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 mud-house fortress and a temple dating back to 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, four-wheel drive jeep or alone. Beyond the last settlements begin the endless expanses of the White and Black Deserts (all of them are parts of the Sahara) and the picturesque Crystal Mountains, and even further to the south lie the filming locations for another scene of “The English Patient” - the Cave of Swimmers and the Gilf-Kebir plateau, on which it once existed the oasis of Zerzura that disappeared without a trace.

Sugar is hard to reach

The most magnificent landscapes of the Sahara lie, not surprisingly, in its internal areas- this is where the highest 300-meter dunes are located, sands of shades from deep 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 southern Saharan countries are regularly rocked by internal conflicts, and tourism here is either simply not developed or is completely dangerous.

Algeria

Algeria is the country with the highest content 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 gladly offered, but the organization will not shine, and there are almost no people willing to take risks. However, for the future: among the “non-sandy” pearls of the Algerian Sahara are the cities of Ouargla, the “golden key of 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 about traveling to the Libyan Sahara. This is doubly offensive, since this is where some of the most incredible desert landscapes are located - the volcanic Acacus Mountains. Black basalt rocks grow 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 more than 12 thousand years old. Another must-see place is the Tuareg citadel, the Gat oasis.

It’s definitely not worth going to Chad, Niger and Mali to explore the Sahara without armed guards.

Mauritania

Mauritania is not as inaccessible to those “sick” of the Sahara as it might seem, and among active independent travelers from Europe continues to remain popular destination for auto and motor rallies. It is easy to enter here from Morocco, a visa will cost from 50 to 95 EUR, and an entry permit for personal transport can also be obtained without any problems. However, this direction is definitely for daredevils - although the country is quite safe compared to its neighbors in the region, no one will guarantee a safe return. Among the interesting things is the endless desert plateau of Adrar, where you understand the scale of the Sahara as well as possible.

Prices on the page are as of August 2018.

Chad, Niger, Mali

10 states: Algeria, Egypt, Western Sahara, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, Chad

The Sahara is the most famous desert. Not surprising, because this is the largest desert in the world. It is located on the territory of 10 African states.

The oldest text in which the Sahara appears as the “great” North African desert dates back to the 1st century AD.

A truly endless sea of sun-scorched sand, stone and clay, enlivened only by rare green spots of oases and one the only river- that's what the Sahara is.

"Sahara" or "Sahra" is an Arabic word, it means a monotonous brown desert plain. Say this word out loud: don’t you hear in it the wheeze of a man suffocating from thirst and scorching heat? We Europeans pronounce the word “Sahara” more softly than Africans, but for us it also conveys the formidable charm of the desert. This is the hottest region on Earth (near the city of Tripoli the air temperature was recorded at +58°C). In the Sahara there is no rain for years, and if it does happen, the drops often do not reach the ground - they dry up in the air.

But what are the feelings of a person who finds himself in the Sahara for the first time? In the morning a huge one rises fireball the sun and everything around is heating up: the air is hot and dry, which burns your lips, and it is impossible to stand on the ground. An Arabic proverb says: “In the Sahara, the wind rises and goes down with the sun.” The wind can bring dust storms, or it can pick up the terrible “song of the sands,” and then a terrible whirlwind, the simoom, will sweep over the desert. At night, the unbearable heat gives way to piercing coolness. Even stones cannot withstand such sudden changes - they burst with a loud crash. Such stones are called “shooting” in the Sahara, and desert residents say: “the sun in our country makes even the stones scream.”

The Tuaregs, forever wandering through the most remote and uninhabited areas of the Sahara, are called “blue ghosts”. The young man receives a blue veil, covering his face so that only a strip for the eyes remains, at a family holiday when he turns eighteen. From that moment on, he becomes a man, and never again in his life, neither day nor night, will he remove the veil from his face and will only move it slightly away from his mouth while eating.

location

The Sahara extends from Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, and from the foothills of the Atlas and Mediterranean coast in the north to approximately 15° N latitude. (Lake Chad) in the south, where it borders the savannah zone. Its area is approx. 7700 thousand km2. - it is more extensive than Australia and only slightly smaller than Brazil. In size, the Sahara is not inferior to Europe with all its islands.

Climate of the Sahara

The climate of the Sahara is extra-arid (tropical, dry and hot, in the north - subtropical). The humid factor is the wide position of the Sahara north and south of the Tropic of the North. This explains the fact that most of the desert is influenced by the northeast trade wind, which dominates most of the Sahara throughout the year.

An additional influence on the climate is exerted by the Atlas mountain barrier located in the north, stretching from west to east and preventing the bulk of humid Mediterranean air from penetrating into the desert. In the south, from the Gulf of Guinea, wet masses freely enter the Sahara in summer, which, gradually drying out, reach its central parts.

Extreme dryness of the air, a huge moisture deficit and, accordingly, extremely high evaporation are characteristic of the entire Sahara. According to the precipitation regime in the Sahara, three zones can be distinguished: northern, central and southern.

The aridity of the Sahara also varies in the latitudinal direction, from west to east. On Atlantic coast Heavy precipitation does not occur because the rare westerly winds are cooled by the Canary Current passing along the coast. There are frequent fogs here.

Dry air ( relative humidity 30-50%), a huge moisture deficit and high evaporation (potential evaporation 2500-6000 mm, which is more than 70 times the amount of precipitation) are typical for the entire Saharan territory, except for narrow coastal strips. Precipitation in Northern Sahara is predominantly winter, in Southern Sahara - summer; the average annual precipitation in the outlying areas is 100-200 mm, in most of the Sahara plains it is less than 50 mm (in the mountain ranges it is usually less than 100 mm), and in the interior regions rain may not fall for several years in a row. There are several points where rain has never been recorded at all. During rains, usually torrential, dry riverbeds (wadis) quickly turn into rapid streams and cause floods in the valleys and mudflows in the mountains. During this period, the desert seems to come to life. Numerous streams, rivers, and lakes appear in it.

The Sahara as a whole is poorly supplied with water, but compared to other deserts of the world it is rich in groundwater.

Most of the Sahara is characterized by heavy morning dew (condensation due to low night temperatures), which contributes to the formation of surface dusty crusts. Snow falls briefly on the peaks of Ahaggar and Tibesti almost every year. Temperatures can reach 56-58°C, approaching the maximum on Earth, but the land surface can warm up to 70-80°C. The average monthly air temperature in July reaches 37.2 °C (Adrar), average January temperatures range from 16 to 27 °C. In winter, frosts on the soil are widespread at night in the Sahara, and in the central mountain ranges night temperatures down to -18 °C are recorded .

Long-lasting winds and multi-day dust (sand) storms are frequent. Storms in the Sahara are extremely powerful. The wind speed sometimes reaches fifty meters per second (sometimes more; the winds are Sirocco, Shergi, Khamsin, Harmattan and Samum), (thirty meters per second is already a hurricane!). Caravan drivers say that sometimes heavy camel saddles are carried away by the wind two hundred meters away, and stones the size of chicken egg, roll on the ground like peas. The Bedouins call a tornado the “Genie of the Desert.”

And when there is calm in the Sahara and the air is filled with dust, the “dry fog” known to all travelers occurs. In this case, visibility completely disappears, and the sun appears as a dim spot and does not provide a shadow. Even wild animals lose their orientation at such moments. They say that there was a case when gazelles, usually very shy, calmly walked in a caravan during the “dry fog”, walking between people and camels.

The Sahara influences the climate of many adjacent areas. Winds can carry dust and sand far beyond Africa, into the Atlantic Ocean or Europe.

Story

The Sahara was by no means always a lifeless land.

As further research confirmed, even during the Paleolithic period, that is, 10-12 thousand years ago (in ice age) the climate here was much more humid. The Sahara was not a desert, but an African steppe-savannah. The population of the Sahara was engaged not only in cattle breeding and agriculture, but also in hunting and even fishing, as evidenced by rock paintings in different areas of the desert.

In many areas of the Sahara, ancient cities were buried under a layer of sand; perhaps this indicates a relatively recent drying of the climate.

Boston University scientists seem to have found further evidence that the Sahara was not always a desert. According to the Boston University Remote Sensing Center, in the northwestern region of Sudan there used to be a huge lake, almost equal in area to Lake Baikal. Now huge water body, which was called Megalake due to its size, is hidden under the sands.

Boston University scientists in the northwestern region of Sudan, in the middle of the Sahara, Dr. Eman Ghoneim and Dr. Farouk El-Baz studied photo and radar images of the Darfur region in order to pinpoint the location of the lake. According to their scientific data, coastline The lake was once approximately 573 meters (plus or minus 3 meters) above sea level.

Researchers suggest that several rivers flowed into the lake at once. The maximum area that Megalake once occupied is 30,750 square meters. km. In addition, the study authors calculated that at the best of times, the volume of water in the lake could reach 2,530 cubic meters. km.

Currently, scientists cannot accurately determine the age of the lake, but they state another fact that the size of the Megalake indicates constant rains, thanks to which the volume of the reservoir was regularly replenished. The find once again confirms that previously the territory of the Sahara was not always a desert. It lay within the temperate zone climate zone and it was covered with plants.

Scientists led by El-Baz also suggest that much of the Megalake has seeped into the soil and now exists as groundwater. This information is extremely important for local residents, as it can be used for purely practical purposes. The fact is that it is this area of Sudan that is experiencing the greatest shortage of fresh water, and finding groundwater would be a boon for them.

Then, about 5-7 thousand years ago, a drought began, the heat intensified, the surface of the Sahara increasingly lost moisture, and the grasses dried out. Gradually, herbivores began to leave the Sahara, and predators followed them. Animals had to retreat to distant forests and savannas Central Africa, where all these representatives of the so-called Ethiopian fauna live to this day. Almost all people left the Sahara for animals, and only a few were able to survive where there was still some water left. They became nomads wandering the desert. They are called Berbers or Tuaregs, and the “father of history” Herodotus called this tribe Garamantes - after the main city of Garama (modern Jerma).

Scientists attribute the appearance of most of the famous frescoes of Tas-sili-Adjer, a plateau located in the center of the great desert, to this time. The name itself means “plateau of many rivers” and recalls the distant time when life flourished here. Fat herds and caravans carrying ivory are the central theme of the painting. There are also dancing people in masks and mysterious giant images of the so-called “Martian gods”. Quite a lot has been written about the latter. The mystery of their origin still excites minds: either they represent a scene of ritual rituals of shamans, or aliens abducting people.

Relief

Sahara is, in fact, not the name of one specific desert, but a collective name for a whole series of deserts connected by a single space and climatic features. Its eastern part is occupied by the Libyan Desert. On the right bank of the Nile, right up to the Red Sea, stretches the Arabian Desert, south of which, entering the territory of Sudan, is the Nubian Desert. There are other, smaller deserts. They are often separated by mountain ranges with fairly high peaks.

On the territory of the Sahara there are powerful mountains with peaks up to 2500 thousand meters, and the extinct crater of the Emi-Kusi volcano, whose diameter is 12 km, and plains covered sand dunes, basins with clay soil, salt lakes and salt marshes, flowering oases. They all replace and complement each other. There are also giant depressions here. One of them is located in Egypt in the northeastern part of the Libyan Desert. This is Qatar, the driest depression on our planet, its bottom is 150 m below sea level.

In general, the Sahara is a vast tableau, 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 (Algeria) and Tibesti (Chad) highlands and the Darfur plateau, rising more than three kilometers above sea level.

The mountainous, completely dry landscapes of Ahaggar are often compared to lunar landscapes.

To the north of them there are closed saline depressions, the largest of which turn into shallow salt lakes during the winter rains (for example, Melgir in Algeria and Djerid in Tunisia).

The surface of the Sahara is quite varied; Vast areas are covered with loose sand dunes, and rocky surfaces excavated from the bedrock and covered with crushed stone (hamada) and gravel or pebbles (regi) are widespread.

In the northern part of the desert, deep wells or springs provide water to oases, allowing date palms, olive trees, grapes, wheat and barley to be grown.

All oases of the Sahara are surrounded by palm groves. Date palms are the basis of life for local residents. Dates and camel milk are the main food of fellah farmers.

It is assumed that groundwater The water supplying these oases comes from the slopes of the Atlas, located 300–500 km to the north. All life is concentrated mainly in the outlying parts of the Sahara. The largest human settlements are concentrated in northern regions. Naturally, there are no roads connecting the oases. Only after the discovery and development of oil began, several highways were built, but along with them camel caravans continue to ply.

In the east, the desert is cut by the Nile Valley; Since ancient times, this river has provided residents with water for irrigation and created fertile soil by depositing silt during annual floods; The river regime changed after the construction of the Aswan Dam.

Oil production

In the 1960s, oil production began in the Algerian and Tunisian sectors of the Sahara. natural gas. The main deposits are concentrated in the Hassi-Mesaoud region (in Algeria). In the late 1960s, even richer oil fields were discovered in the Libyan sector of the Sahara. The transport system in the desert has undergone significant improvements. Several highways crossed the Sahara from north to south without displacing the time-honored camel caravans.

Mirages

Few people dare to travel across the Sahara. During the hard way Mirages may occur. Moreover, they always come across approximately the same place. Therefore, it was even possible to draw up maps of mirages, on which 160 thousand marks of the location of mirages were marked. These maps even mark what exactly is seen in a particular place: wells, oases, palm groves, mountain ranges, and so on.

It's hard to find a more beautiful sight than a sunset in the desert. Perhaps only the aurora makes a greater impression on the traveler. Each time the sky in the rays of the setting sun amazes with a new combination of shades - blood red and pink-pearl, imperceptibly merging with soft blue. All this is piled up on the horizon in several floors, burns and sparkles, growing into some 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 are unable to dispel.

These days the Sahara is not so difficult to reach. From the city of Algiers, along a good highway, you can reach the desert in one day. Through the picturesque El Kantara gorge - the “Gateway to the Sahara” - the traveler finds himself in amazing places. To the left and right of the road, which runs along a rocky and clayey plain, rise small rocks, to which the wind and sand have given the intricate outlines of fairy-tale castles and towers.

Flora

In Northern Sahara, the influence of Mediterranean flora is significant, and in the south, species of paleotropical Sudanese flora widely penetrate into the desert. About 30 endemic genera of plants are known in the flora of the Sahara, belonging mainly to the cruciferous, gonoceae and asteraceae families. In the driest, extra-arid regions of Central Sahara, the flora is especially poor.

Thus, in the southwest of Libya only about nine species of native plants grow. And in the south of the Libyan Desert, you can drive hundreds of kilometers without finding a single plant. However, in the Central Sahara there are regions distinguished by comparative floristic richness. These are the desert highlands of Tibesti and Ahaggar. In the Tibesti Highlands, ficus ficus and even lady's hair fern grow near water sources. On the Tassini-Adjenr plateau, northeast of Ahanar, there are relict plants: individual specimens of Mediterranean cypress.

In the Sahara, ephemerals predominate, appearing on short time after rare rains. Perennial xerophytes are common. The most extensive in area are grass-shrub desert plant formations (various types of Aristide grass). The tree-shrub layer is represented by free-standing acacias, low-growing xerophytic shrubs - cornulac, randonia, etc.). Jujube is often found in the northern zone of cereal-shrub communities.

In the extreme west of the desert, in the Atlantic Sahara, special plant groups are formed with the dominance of large succulents. Cactus euphorbia, acacia, wolfberry, and sumac grow here. An Afghan tree grows near the ocean coast. At altitudes above 1700 m, the following crops (highlands and plateaus of Central Sahara) begin to dominate here: grasses, feather grass, bromegrass, ragwort, mallow, etc. The most characteristic plant of the Saharan oases is the date palm.

Fauna

In the Sahara there are about 70 species of mammals, about 80 species of nesting birds, about 80 species of ants, more than 300 species of darkling beetles, and about 120 species of orthoptera. Species endemism in some groups of insects reaches 70%, in mammals it is about 40%, and in birds there are no endemics at all.

Of the mammals, the most numerous are rodents. Representatives of the hamster, mouse, jerboa, and squirrel families live here. Gerbils are diverse in the Sahara (the red-tailed gerbil is common). Large ungulates are not numerous in the Sahara, and the reason for this is not only the harsh conditions of the desert, but also their long-standing persecution by humans. The largest antelope of the Sahara is the arix, slightly smaller in size than the addax antelope. Small antelopes similar to our goitered gazelles are found in all regions of the Sahara. On the coasts and plateaus of Tibesti, Ahaggar, as well as in the mountains on the right bank of the Nile, the maned ram lives.

Among the predators there are: miniature fox, striped jackal, Egyptian mongoose, sand cat. Birds in the Sahara are not numerous. Larks, hazel grouse, and desert sparrow are common. In addition, there are: sandpiper, desert raven, eagle owl. Lizards are numerous (crested lizards, gray monitor lizards, agamas). Some snakes are perfectly adapted to life in the sand - sand ephas, horned viper

Deserves special attention dromedary camel, whose appearance symbolizes the Sahara Desert.

Museum of Man

The Great Desert is full of human traces left intentionally. Some drawings and engravings of the Sahara are more than 10 thousand years old. On the most ancient ones - wild animals: elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, ostriches, antelopes, often gigantic size. Sometimes it's the other way around: following your guide, you crouch under a rock ledge - and find yourself among a herd of palm-sized red cows.

The yellowish-brown and yellow-red background of rocks and Tassili sandstones turned out to be an ideal material that preserved the archive of several eras. In hundreds of images of Tassili N'Ajer, discovered, described and copied by the French explorer Henri Lot in the 50s of the 20th century, there is life various peoples, inhabited the massif at different times.

“We were amazed,” wrote A. Lot, “by the variety of styles and subjects that we discovered when studying the numerous layers of paintings... Some drawings were located in isolation, others were complex compositions. We found ourselves as if in the greatest museum of prehistoric art. Two main styles characterize these paintings: one is symbolic, more ancient, in all likelihood, of Negroid origin; the other is a later, clearly naturalistic one, in which the influence of the Nile Valley culture is felt. …And if sometimes Egyptian or perhaps Mycenaean influence can be detected in them, the most ancient of them certainly belong to an unknown original school of art.”

But the Sahara still hides many mysteries. One of them is in the desert part of Niger, on the Adrar Ma-det plateau. Here there are stone circles laid out from crushed stone of an ideal concentric shape. They are located at a distance of almost a mile from each other, as if along arrows directed exactly to the four cardinal directions. Who created them, when and why, there is no clear answer to these questions yet!

Structure of Guel Er Richat, Mauritania

This structure is located in the Sahara Desert, and is clearly visible from space, since its diameter is almost 50 km. It is believed that its oldest ring was formed more than half a billion years ago. But the reasons for its occurrence are unclear. Previously, it was believed that it arose after a huge meteorite hit the Earth, but the bottom of the structure is not flat, and no traces of the impact were found along the edges of the structure itself. Therefore, today most researchers believe that the structure is the result of erosion, but they don’t even try to explain its almost perfectly round shape - it’s a mystery.

Tourism

Excursions are offered to the Sahara. These are small trips of 2-3 days into the murderous desert. You can ride a camel, but only under the supervision of an overseer. Otherwise, you may find yourself on a beast among the vast sands. The bravest ones can cross the desert themselves (this is possible, although it seems unrealistic!). But before going, you need to consult a specialist.

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Despite popular belief, the Sahara Desert on the map is not the largest in the world. In fact, in terms of area it is inferior Antarctic desert, but among hot deserts and located on 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 in size, but in influence on history and modern life person. Humanity 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 influence on the political, economic and cultural life of North Africa.

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

What continent is it on?

Sahara is located in the northern part African continent and extends from the coast in the north to tropical savannas 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 located entirely or partially on the territory of the Sahara:

Libya;
Tunisia;
Algeria;
Western Sahara;
Mauritania;
Mali;
Niger;
Chad;
Sudan.

History and names

Scientists believe that even in 5-4 millennium BC e. trees grew in the Sahara, 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 moisture evaporation over precipitation.

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

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

The name Sahara presumably comes from the Arabic word "ṣaḥārā", which means "desert". Another possible origin of the name is from the Arabic “sahra”, which means “red-brown”. The name of the desert has been fixed since the 1st century AD. e. after Arabic-speaking tribes reached the Sahara.

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

Climatic conditions

Climate of the Sahara - deserted(arid), characteristic feature which is the predominance of evaporation processes over humidification 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 time At night the air temperature can drop below zero, and in the summer it often reaches +50°C.

The northern part of the desert has dry subtropical climate with hot summers and relatively cold winter. 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 precipitation does not exceed 75 mm.

Sand Sea - what is it like?

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

Characteristics of endless sands

About a quarter of Sugar consists of sand dunes, a quarter - from mountains of volcanic origin, and half from barren rocky plains and cliffs. The area of the territory with stable vegetation does not exceed several 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 there is the least amount of annual precipitation (no more than 20 mm per year), is one of the most lifeless places on Earth. The average amount of biomass in this part of the desert drops to 2 kg/ha or less.

Square The desert covers 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 1.2 thousand km from north to south.

Water sources in the Sahara are:

artesian groundwater , above the surface of which there are oases;
rainwater, which fills gelts (ponds or natural puddles) and wadis (dry beds of ancient rivers filled with rainwater);
large 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 classic sand. Plants that are mostly resistant to arid climates grow in oases and high-altitude areas (grass, small shrubs and trees). Various varieties are grown in oases cultivated plants: dates, olives, figs, vegetables.

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

For those wishing to visit deeper places in 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 tent camp here, where tourists can expect all the benefits of civilization available in the desert.

Picturesque Shigaga, whose dimensions are 30 by 15 km, exceeds any expectations: countless untouched dunes, practically devoid of vegetation, stretch to the end of the horizon.

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

Mauritania

Mauritania is located almost entirely within the Sahara, but travel here is rarity due to the poverty of the local population, lack of infrastructure and quite high level crime in the country.

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

The most stunning desert landscapes are located in the southeastern part of Algeria at the foot of the Tassile Mountains.

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

Others man-made attractions Algerian part of the Sahara are:

Ouargla city;
Mzab Valley with fortified cities.

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

Of the natural attractions of the Algerian part of the Sahara, it stands out Ahaggar Highlands in the south of Algeria, consisting of volcanic remains of bizarre shapes. Open on site national park Ahaggar, and the guides of tourists are local Tuaregs, whose unique culture will be interesting for any tourist.

One of the largest and most famous deserts on the planet is the Sahara, which covers the territory of ten African countries. In ancient writings the desert was called “great”. These are endless expanses of sand, clay, stone, where life is found only in rare oases. Only one river flows here, but there are small lakes in oases and large reserves of groundwater. The desert territory occupies more than 7,700 thousand square meters. km, which is slightly smaller in area than Brazil and larger than Australia.

The Sahara is not a single desert, but a combination of several deserts that are located in the same space and have similar climatic conditions. The following deserts can be distinguished:

Libyan

Arabian

Nubian

There are also smaller deserts, as well as mountains and an extinct volcano. You can also find several depressions in the Sahara, among which we can highlight Qatar, 150 meters deep below sea level.

Climatic conditions in the desert

The Sahara has an extra-arid climate, that is, dry and hot tropical, but in the far north it is subtropical. Recorded in the desert temperature maximum on the planet +58 degrees Celsius. As for precipitation, it is absent here for several years, and when it falls, it does not have time to reach the ground. A common phenomenon in the desert is wind that raises dust storms. Wind speed can reach 50 meters per second.

There are strong differences in daily temperatures: if during the day the heat is over +30 degrees, which makes it impossible to breathe or move, then at night it becomes cool and the temperature drops to 0. Even the hardest people cannot withstand these fluctuations. rocks which crack and turn into sand.

In the north of the desert there is the Atlas mountain range, which prevents Mediterranean air masses from entering the Sahara. Wet ones move from the south atmospheric masses from the Gulf of Guinea. The desert climate affects neighboring climatic zones.

Plants of the Sahara Desert

Vegetation is distributed unevenly throughout the Sahara. More than 30 species of endemic plants can be found in the desert. Flora is most represented in the Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands, as well as in the north of the desert.

Among the plants are the following:

Acacia

Animals in the Sahara Desert

The fauna is represented by mammals, birds and various insects. Among them in the Sahara are jerboas and hamsters, gerbils and antelopes, maned sheep and miniature foxes, jackals and mongooses, sand cats and camels.

There are lizards and snakes here: monitor lizards, agamas, horned vipers, sandy f-holes.

The Sahara Desert is a special world where an extra-arid climate has formed. This is the hottest place on the planet, but there is life here. These are animals, birds, insects, plants and nomadic peoples.

Desert location

The Sahara Desert is located in North Africa. It occupies an area from the western part of the continent to the eastern part for 4.8 thousand kilometers, and from north to south 0.8-1.2 thousand kilometers. Total area The Sahara is approximately 8.6 million square kilometers. From different parts of the world the desert borders on the following objects:

in the north – the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea;
in the south - the Sahel, a zone transitioning to savannas;
in the west – the Atlantic Ocean;
to the east is the Red Sea.

Most of the Sahara is occupied by wild and uninhabited spaces, where nomads can sometimes be found. The desert is divided between states such as Egypt and Niger, Algeria and Sudan, Chad and Western Sahara, Libya and Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania.

Sahara desert map

Relief

In fact, sand occupies only a quarter of the Sahara, and the rest of the territory is occupied by stone structures and mountains of volcanic origin. In general, we can distinguish the following objects in the desert:

Western Sahara - plains, mountains and lowlands;
Ahaggar – highland;
Tibesti - plateau;
Tenere – sandy expanses;
Air - plateau;
Talaq – desert;
Ennedi – plateau;
Algerian desert;
Adrar-Iforas - plateau;
El Hamra;

The largest accumulations of sand are in such sandy seas as Igidi and the Great Eastern Erg, Tenenre and Idehan-Marzuk, Shesh and Aubari, the Great Western Erg and Erg Chebbi. There are also dunes and dunes of various shapes. In some places there is the phenomenon of moving and also singing sands.

If we talk in more detail about the relief, sands and the origin of the desert, then scientists claim that previously the Sahara was ocean floor. There is even a White Desert here, in which white rocks are the remains of various microorganisms of antiquity, and during excavations paleontologists find skeletons of various animals that lived millions of years ago.
Now sands cover some parts of the desert, and their depth in some places reaches 200 meters. Sand is constantly transported by winds, forming new landforms. Under the dunes and sand dunes there are deposits of various rocks and minerals. When people discovered oil and natural gas deposits, they began to extract them here, although it is more difficult than in other places on the planet.

Water resources of the Sahara

The main source of the Sahara Desert is the Nile and Niger rivers, as well as Lake Chad. Rivers originated outside the desert and are fed by surface and groundwater. The main tributaries of the Nile are the White and Blue Nile, which merge in the southeastern part of the desert. The Niger flows in the southwest of the Sahara, in the delta of which there are several lakes. In the north there are wadis and streams that form after heavy rainfall and also flow from the mountain ranges. Inside the desert itself there is a network of wadis that was formed in ancient times. It is worth noting that under the sands of the Sahara there is underground water that feeds some reservoirs. They are used for irrigation systems.

River Nile

Among interesting facts One thing to note about the Sahara is that it is not completely deserted. More than 500 species of flora and several hundred species of fauna are found here. The diversity of flora and fauna forms a special ecosystem on the planet.

In the bowels of the earth, beneath the sandy seas of the desert, there are springs of artesian water. One of the interesting phenomena is that the territory of the Sahara is changing all the time. Satellite images show that the desert area is either increasing or decreasing. If the Sahara was previously a savannah, now it is a desert, it is very interesting what several thousand years will do to it and what this ecosystem will turn into.

Sahara Desert

(North Africa)

A truly endless sea of sun-scorched sand, stone and clay, enlivened 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 vast waterless space. There are places in the interior of the Sahara where there is no rain for years. Thus, in the In-Salah oasis, in the heart of the desert, in eleven years, from 1903 to 1913, it rained only once - in 1910, and only eight millimeters of precipitation fell.

These days the Sahara is not so difficult to reach. From the city of Algiers, along a good highway, you can reach the desert in one day. Through the picturesque El Kantara gorge - the "Gateway to the Sahara" - the traveler finds himself in places whose landscape does not at all resemble what he expected " sandy sea"with golden waves of dunes. To the left and right of the road, which runs along a rocky and clayey plain, rise small rocks, 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 is made up of rocky plains, as well as clayey areas cracked by the scorching heat and salt-white depressions, salt marshes, giving rise to deceptive mirages in the unsteady haze of heated air.

In general, the Sahara is a vast tableau, 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, completely dry landscapes of Ahaggar are often compared to lunar landscapes. But under natural rock overhangs, archaeologists discovered an entire Stone Age art gallery here. Cave paintings of ancient people depicted elephants and hippopotamuses, crocodiles and giraffes, rivers with floating boats and people harvesting crops... All this suggests that the climate of the Sahara was previously more humid, and most of the current desert was once savannah.

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 there is rain, 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 falls less than two hundred and fifty millimeters per year. Geographers call such areas arid. They are unsuitable for agriculture, and they can only be used to drive herds of sheep and camels 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 average annual temperature does not fall below plus thirty-five.

The sun regulates the entire life of the Sahara. Its radiation, given the sparse cloudiness, low air humidity and lack of vegetation, reaches very high values. 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 atmospheric phenomena The hardest thing for a traveler to endure in the Sahara is prolonged storms. 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 small grains of sand. Dust storms occur more often than sand storms. The Sahara is perhaps the dustiest place on Earth. From a distance, these storms look like fires that quickly engulf everything around, clouds of smoke from which rise high into the sky. With furious force they rush across the plains and mountains, blowing dust from the destroyed rocks on their way.

Storms in the Sahara are extremely powerful. The wind speed sometimes reaches fifty meters per second (remember that thirty meters per second is already a hurricane!). Caravan workers say that sometimes heavy camel saddles are carried away by the wind two hundred meters away, and stones the size of chicken eggs roll on the ground like peas.

Quite often, tornadoes occur when highly heated air from the sun-hot earth 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 “genie of the desert” in time, as the Bedouins call a tornado. A gray pillar rises into the air all the way to the clouds. The pilots met dust devils sometimes at an altitude of one and a half kilometers. It happens that the wind carries Saharan dust across the Mediterranean Sea to Southern Europe.

On the endless Saharan plains the wind almost always blows. It is estimated that in the desert there are only six calm days per hundred days. The hot winds of the Northern Sahara are especially notorious, capable of destroying the entire harvest in the oasis in a few hours. These winds - sirocco - blow more often at the beginning of summer. In Egypt, such a wind is called khamsin (literally "fifty"), since it usually blows for fifty days after spring equinox. During its almost two-month rampage, window glass that is not covered with shutters becomes frosted - this is how grains of sand carried by the wind scratch it.

Sahara loves to remind herself unexpectedly. It happens that a caravan sets off when there is no sign of 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 is driving the red sands of the desert towards the caravan. Soon the dim sun barely breaks through the fast-moving sandy clouds. It becomes difficult to breathe, it seems that the sand has replaced the air and filled everything around. Hurricane wind rushes at speeds of up to hundreds of kilometers per hour. The sand burns, suffocates, knocks you down. Such a storm sometimes lasts a week, and woe to those whom it finds on the way.

But if the weather in the Sahara is calm and the sky is not covered with dust raised by the wind, it is difficult to find a more beautiful sight than the sunset in the desert. Perhaps only the aurora makes a greater impression on the traveler. Each time the sky in the rays of the setting sun amazes with a new combination of shades - blood red and pink-pearl, imperceptibly merging with soft blue. All this is piled up on the horizon in several floors, burns and sparkles, growing into some 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 are unable to dispel.

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

The Algerian oasis of El Ouedde lies in the golden-yellow sands of the Grand Erg Orient. It is connected to the outside world by an asphalt highway, but this is how it appears only on the map. In many places the wide road surface is thoroughly covered with sand. Telegraph poles are buried in a good two-thirds of it, and teams of workers with shovels and brooms are constantly clearing out drifts in one area or 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 sand waves from place to place. When there is a strong wind, traffic on desert roads sometimes stops completely, and not for one day.

Like all oases of the Sahara, El Ouedde is surrounded by palm groves. Date palms are the basis of life for local residents. In other oases, irrigation systems are installed in order to provide them with water, but in El Ouedde the process is simpler. In the dry bed of the river flowing through the oasis, deep funnel holes are dug and palm trees are planted in them. Water always flows under the rus house at a depth of five to six meters, so the roots of palm trees planted in this way easily reach the level of the underground stream and do not require irrigation.

Each crater contains between fifty and one hundred palm trees. The sinkholes are located in rows along the riverbed, and all of them are threatened common enemy- sand. To prevent the slopes from sliding, the edges of the craters are reinforced with fences made of palm branches, but sand still seeps down. You have to take it out on donkeys or carry it in baskets all year round. In the summer, in the heat, this hard work can only be done at night, by torchlight or in the glow full moon. Water wells are also dug in these same craters. 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. And the valuable muscat variety of dates is sold and even exported to Europe.

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

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

But oases in the Sahara are rare, and from one “island of life” to another you have to travel along endless desert roads, 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 routes and on modern asphalt highways in these inhospitable lands.

When the desired outlines of an oasis appear on the horizon in front of the 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 walked the sands on more than one expedition route and studied the desert for more than one year have also happened to 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 difficult to bring yourself to believe that in reality they are several hundred kilometers away. Experienced caravan guides sometimes fell under the power of the 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, to make sure whether it was a mirage or reality, lit a fire. If even a slight breeze blew in the desert, the smoke spreading 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 a particular place: wells, oases, palm groves, mountain ranges, and so on.

And yet, in our time, when two modern highways run from north to south through the great desert, when multi-colored car caravans of the Paris-Dakar rally rush along it every year, and artesian wells drilled along the roads make it possible, if necessary, to walk to the nearest source of water, the Sahara gradually turns out to be that disastrous place that European travelers feared more than the Arctic snows and Amazonian jungles.

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 deep into this unique region of the planet to breathe a breath 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 running gazelles and admire the colors of Saharan sunsets. And next to their caravan, running along the side of the road with a quiet rustle are the mysterious guardians of the peace of this hot but beautiful region - dusty-gray, wind-swept “desert genies.”

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