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Sahara Desert
The Sahara Desert, covering most of North Africa, is the largest desert in the world. From north to south the Sahara is between 800 and 1,200 miles and is at least 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from east to west. Due to the massive size of the Sahara, Africa is split into two regions: that which lies above or forms part of the Sahara and the rest of Africa south of the Sahara. On the west, the Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the Red Sea, and to the north are the Atlas Mountains and Mediterranean Sea. |
The Sahara, with a size of 8.6 million km², is the world's largest desert, covering large parts of North Africa. Around 4 million people live here.
Its maximum length is 4,800 km, running from west to east, and up to 1,200 km from north to south. Sahara covers most of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali, and touches Morocco and Tunisia.
To the north, Sahara is bordered by the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea; in the west by the Atlantic Ocean; in the south, the desert zone reaches 16º northern latitude; in the east it is bordered by the Nile. Still the desert continues to the east of the river until it reaches the Red Sea, but this is not considered a part of the Sahara.
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| Sahara Desert History |
 The Sahara is one of the hottest places on Earth. Even though temperatures there may rise to 136 F (57.7 C), its dryness, not heat, that makes a place like the Sahara a desert. The frozen continent of Antarctica is so dry that some scientists consider it a desert, too.
As the world's largest desert, the Sahara receives less than three inches (7.6 cm) of rain a year. Even in its wettest areas, rain may arrive twice in one week, then not return for years.
There are several rivers running through the Sahara, of which the Nile River and Niger River are the only permanent ones. The rest being seasonal, involves that most of the time, there is only a dry river bed, which may carry water for brief periods following uncommon rainfalls. There may be years in between this happening.
Metallic minerals are very important to most Saharan countries. Algeria and Mauritania have several major deposits of iron ore, while smaller deposits are found in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Western Sahara and Niger. Copper is found in Mauritania and manganese in Algeria. Small deposits of uranium are widely distributed in the Sahara, while Niger has the largest deposits. Phosphates are found in great quantities in Morocco and Western Sahara, and are already well-exploited. Algeria's phosphate production is smaller, but large enough for exports. Oil is mainly found in Algeria, and is of great importance to the economy of the entire country. While the mineral exploitation has led to economic growth in Sahara, this has rarely helped the indigenous population, as skilled workers have been brought in to the different fields.
5 million years ago: Climatic changes turn the region of Sahara into a desert.
Around 5000 BCE: Climatic changes, with more rainfall over the Saharan region. Domesticated livestock appears in Sahara, leading to nomadic pastoralism.
Around 4000 BCE: First traces of agriculture.
Around 0 CE: The climate of Sahara returns mainly to desert, rather similar to modern conditions.
3rd century: Camels are introduced in Sahara, taking the place of horses. This allows a great increase in trade, but also banditry.
7th century: Islam is introduced to Sahara, but the conversion process would take almost 4 centuries, involving sometimes mild missionary activities and sometimes brutal oppression.
16th century: Climatic changes involve increased precipitation.
18th century: This is a period of gradual decline in the precipitation, involving a process in which many regions become uninhabitable, leading up to the climatic and demographic conditions of modern times.
1922: Storms and floods destroy Tamanrasset in Algeria.
Luckily for popular imagination there's still enough sand, sun and space to go round. Today the Sahara stretches over 8370km (5200mi) and covers a whopping 9,000,000 sq km (3,500,000 sq mi) - about the size of the United States - and is growing larger by the day. Although only one quarter of the desert is sand (the rest is gravel-covered plains, rock-strewn plateaus and volcanic mountains), some of the dunes can range over hundreds of kilometres and reach up to 300m (1000ft) in height.
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Discovery of Sahara Desert
Of the Sahara's around 4 million people, most live in Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt. Dominant groups of people are Sahrawis, Tuareg and Negroids. The largest city is Nouakchott, Mauritania's capital. Other important cities are Tamanrasset in Algeria, and Sebha and Ghat in Libya.
Only 200,000 km² of Sahara are fertile oases, where dates, corn and fruits are grown. The few fertile regions today are fed by underground rivers and underground basins. Many of Sahara's oases rests in depressions (areas under sea level) allowing water to surface from underground reservoirs; artesian wells.
The soil in Sahara is low in organic matter, and often biologically inactive. The soil in depressions is often saline. Animal life is limited to gazelles, antelopes, jackals, foxes, badgers and hyena.
Other sorts of vegetation include scattered concentrations of grasses, shrubs and trees in the highlands, as well as in the oases and along river beds. Some plants are well adjusted to the climate, allowing them to germinate within 3 days of rain and sow their seeds within 2 weeks after that.
Animal life of Sahara include gerbil, jerboa, cape hare and desert hedgehog, barbary sheep, oryx, gazelle, deer, wild ass, baboon, hyena, jackal, sand fox, weasel and mongoose. The bird life counts more than 300 species.
The Kalahari Desert in southern Africa is much smaller. It covers 225,000 miles. The Kalahari is covered by sand dunes and gravel plains like other deserts. However, some scientists do not consider the Kalahari a true desert because some parts of the Kalahari receive more than 10 inches of rain in a year. Animals that live in the region include brown hyenas, lions, meerkats, several species of antelope, and many types of birds and reptiles. Vegetation in the Kalahari consists of dry grassland and scrubby acacias. Grasses thrive in the Kalahari during the summer rainy season.
Sand dunes make up only about 15 percent of the Sahara, but the desert is so huge (about three and a half million square miles or 5.63 million sq km) that even a single dune may be enormous. The sand dune known as the Libyan Erg is as big as France.
About 70 percent of the Sahara consists of rocky plains covered with stones and gravel. Shale and limestone plateaus or mountain ranges make up the rest.
The Sahara is a vast area of largely undisturbed habitat, principally sand and rock, but with small areas of permanent vegetation. The most degradation is found where there is water (oases, etc). Here, habitats may be heavily altered by human activities. Previously existing tree cover has often been removed for fuel and fodder by nomadic pastoralists and traders.
The Sahara desert is not well protected. Yet, this may be due to the low population and impracticality of defining borders over this vast area. Fewer than 2 million inhabitants reside throughout the entire Sahara Desert. The majority are nomads, predominantly the Tuareg, Tibbu, and Moors. They survive by nomadic pastoralism, hunting, and trading. Most of these people are found in the desert margins and they do not often spend much time in the central hyper-arid portion.
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| Important Facts sahara Desert |
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The Sahara Desert is a great desert area, North Africa, the West portion of the broad belt of parched land that extends from the Atlantic Ocean eastward past the Red Sea to Iraq. The entire desert, the largest in the world, is about 1600 km wide and about 5000 km long from East to West.
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The total domain of the Sahara Desert is more than 9,000,000 sq. km, more than 3,500,000 square miles. Of which some 200,000 square km. Some 80,000 square miles, consist of partially fertile oases.
The limits of the Sahara Desert are the Atlantic Ocean on the West, the Atlas Mountains. and the Mediterranean Sea in the North. The Red Sea and Egypt on the East, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River. in the South. The boundaries, however, are not clearly defined, and have been shifting for a thousand years. The Sahara was once a fertile area; millet and other grains were cultivated there over 8000 years ago. As conditions progressively became drier, however, and desertification set in, farmers abandoned their land.
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Geographically distinct is the West Sahara, which is sometimes called the Sahara Proper; the central Ahaggar Mountains and the Tibesti Massif, are plateau regions.
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The Libyan Desert is in the East. The West Sahara Desert is an area of rock-strewn plains and sand deserts of varying elevation. The land is presently almost entirely without rainfall or surface water but possesses a number of underground rivers that flow fast from the Atlas and other mountains. Occasionally the waters of these rivers find their way seeping to the surface; in these naturally irrigated oases, plants grow freely. The soil of this region of the Sahara is highly fertile and, where irrigation is possible, produces excellent crops.
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The central plateau region of the Sahara Desert runs for about 1600 km, about 1000 miles in a Northwest to Southeast direction. The plateau itself varies in height, from about 600 to 750 m (about 1900 to 2500 ft). Peaks in the several mountain ranges that rise from the plateau are from about 1800, to more than 3400 m (about 6000 to more than 11,200 ft) high.
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Notable peaks include Emi Koussi (3415 m/11,204 ft), in the Tibesti Massif, and Tahat (3003 m / 9852 ft), in the Ahaggar Range. Although rainfall is scant in the area, several of the central Saharan peaks are snow-capped during part of the year.
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The Libyan Sahara Desert is considered the most arid part of the Sahara. Moisture is almost totally absent and few oases exist. The land is characterized by sandy wastes and large dunes of sand 122 m (400 ft) or more in height.
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The valley of the Nile River and the mountainous area of the Nubian Desert to the East of the Nile are geographically, part of the Sahara. However, the irrigation afforded by the Nile transforms the desert into fertile agricultural land throughout much of Egypt.
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| Getting There
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Getting there is half the fun. Timbuktu did not get its reputation for being at the end of the world for nothing. Basically you have three options: by air, by land and by boat.
By air
Air Mali has flights from Bamako and from Gao. There is a bus to the airport that costs about 1000 CFA.
By road
It's not easy but it's possible. You can either get here with your own 4WD or by bus. The 4WD is the realitively comfortable option; they operate like taxi brousses. The best places to catch one are Mopti and Douazenta. Depending on the state of the road (or rather: trail) transport from Mopti can take anywhere from 8 to 24 hours. The bus is actually an open lorry, even more crowded than a 4WD, and considerably slower. In any case, if you have the time, take the boat.
By camel
Certainly one of the more adventurous ways of getting to Timbuktu. For a price, it is possible to tag along with a caravan across the Sahara desert. |
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