Sahara Desert

We all refer to Sahara as the largest and hottest desert in the world, but where is it actually situated? This largest desert in the world covers almost the entire north of the African continent, which accounts for 10 percent of the continent. It is the most arid regions of the world, with minimal rainfall that is very sporadic. Though it is one of the hottest regions in the world, it does have its flora and fauna that thrives in those conditions.

The Sahara
We so often use Sahara as a metaphor while describing something that is very dry or then very vast. Well the desert is that vast, it extends from the Red Sea on the east to the Atlantic ocean on the west that covers approximately 3,500,000 miles. The north of the Sahara lies the Mediterranean region and Sahel ( semi-arid Savannah) to the south. It is the world's hottest desert. Given the definition of a desert Antarctica would be the world's largest desert, of course the coldest one!

Geography
The desert encompasses countries like Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Mali, Libya, Morocco, Niger Sudan and Tunisia. It is divided into various regions by mountain ranges. The mountain ranges include, Ahaggar mountains, the Tibetsi mountains and the Air mountains. These ranges divide the Sahara into the western part, The Tenere desert and the Libyan desert. The tallest peak of this desert is the Emi Koussi on the Tibesti mountain ranges.

Facts about Sahara
This desert always mystifies me, reading about the various adventures of fictional characters in this desert, like that of Tintin always made me curious about it. Here are some of the facts that I discovered while reading about this vast land of sand dunes.

• The Sahara is large as the United States of America
• The landforms in this desert undergo changes quite often. This is due tot the wind that keeps changing direction.
• Its existence has been dated back to almost 3 million years
• It has various underground rivers which surface often to form oasis.
• There are sand dunes that are as tall as 180 meters.
• Being the hottest desert, temperatures shoot above 50 degrees Celsius in summers, however, it can get very cold in the nights.
• The population of this region is just about 2 million due to the extreme temperatures
• The desert receives an annual rainfall between 1 to 3 inches.
• The animals found there include, camels, Addax antelopes, ostrich, goats, Dorcas gazelle, Deathstalker scorpion, monitor lizard and sand vipers
• Sahara plants include, African Welwitchsia, African Peyote, Eragrostis, date palm, Doum palm, thyme and olive trees.
• Most of the population of the Sahara desert consists of nomadic tribes, of which the Berber tribe is well-known. These tribes earlier were known to occupy most of northern Africa, but now these people have settled in Morocco and Algeria.
• Sandstorms in this desert are so nasty that they are called dust devils.
• Arabic is the most commonly spoken language across the desert.
• The desert is said to shrink and grow from time to time and is a vast topic of research.
• The famous pyramids of Egypt are also located here in the desert, making it an attractive tourist destination.

It is very easy to lose your way here in the desert and never to find your way, due to the changing landforms. A land of endless sand dunes, a few oasis and yes a lot of mirages, a truly mystical place. The Sahara is one of the places I want to visit, and is one of the top things to do on my bucket list. I am sure we all want to pay a visit to this lovely place. It may be extremely hot, but is one of the hottest tourist destinations as well!