A Brief Look at the Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert is the biggest hot desert in the world. It covers a huge 9 million square kilometers in Northern Africa. It includes Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, and Tunisia, among other places. The climate is dry and hot, and there isn’t much water in the area. This makes it one of the hardest places to live on earth.

Place and weather

Most of North Africa is covered by the Sahara Desert. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea and Arabian Peninsula in the east. Its northern border is the Mediterranean Sea, which goes all the way down to Lake Chad in the south. The area is also part of the area called the African Great Lakes, which includes places like Kenya and Uganda.

At its heart, the Sahara Desert is a hot desert because it is so hot. During the day, temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius, and at night, they can drop below freezing, making it impossible for most living things to live there. Less than 25 mm of rain falls on average each year, making the land look like a desert with little vegetation and few signs of life.

The past and the present

Since the Stone Age, people have lived in the Sahara Desert, which is home to some of the oldest civilizations in the world.

Archaeological evidence shows that people have been living in the area since at least 10,000 BC. People have lived in the desert for a long time, making do with few resources and living close to one another. There are now more than 2.5 million people from many different cultures and religions living in the Sahara Desert.

Most of the people who live in the desert are Bedouins. They go where trade and food are. They have gotten used to the harsh conditions and come up with their own ways to stay alive. Their nomadic way of life has helped them live for hundreds of years and keep a rich culture that is still used today.

Animals and their environments

Even though the Sahara Desert is a harsh place, it is home to many animals and plants. Many animals, both big and small, have found their own ways to deal with the extreme heat and lack of water. The Sahara Desert is home to the Addax antelope, the Fennec fox, the sand viper snake, the adder snake, and the Dorcas gazelle.

The plants in the Sahara Desert are also very different. There are date palms, acacia trees, and tamarisk shrubs, for example. Some parts of the desert are even more welcoming and have grasslands where birds and other animals can live. These green islands, called oases, are surrounded by miles and miles of sand. They give wildlife a place to live and give travelers a chance to see something truly amazing.