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The Deserts Of Africa Unimaginable Beauty
frica - the second largest Sahara spending days and weeks
continent in the world is traversing the immense landscape.
also home to the largest Several desert oases here made
desert in the world—the Sahara. trade possible between the ports
In fact there are three deserts of North African and the southern
on the continent—The Sahara, the Savannah markets.
Namib and the Kalahari. Together
these three amazingly vast and There are around 4 million people
diverse land masses cover a large or so that dwell in the Sahara,
portion of Africa. Beautiful, yet mostly in Mauritania, Western
treacherous, these areas of the Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt.
continent provide a rich Additionally there is a
geological and cultural history fascinating and impressive array
that dates back millions of of animal life, include gerbil,
years. jerboa, cape hare, desert
hedgehog, barbary sheep, oryx,
The Sahara Desert - As gazelle, deer, wild ass, baboon,
inconceivable as it seems, this hyena, jackal, sand fox, weasel
desert is ever changing, and mongoose. The bird life
shrinking and growing in size. includes more than 300 species.
Satellite photos studied from the This vast life and diverse
early 1980s show that the culture comes all in one desert.
Sahara's southern edge is
expanding into the Sahel, a dry The Namib Desert - The sand dunes
band that separates the desert of the Namib Desert are the
from the Savanna. But the highest dunes on Earth. While the
mid-1980s saw this area grow Sahara is the largest desert in
green and wet again. A common the world, the Namib is
trade route for many centuries, considered the oldest desert,
caravans traveled through the having endured arid or semi-arid
conditions for at least 80 geological wonder, the Kalahari
million years. In the Nama Desert is part of the huge sand
language, Namib means “vast”, and basin that reaches from the
this is no exaggeration. At Orange River up to Angola, in the
50,000 kilometers, the west to Namibia and in the east
Namib-Naukluft Park is the to Zimbabwe. The sand masses of
largest conservation area in wind-shaped sand that are so
Namibia and one of the largest in common in the Kalahari landscape
the world. Wind blows the thirsty were created by the erosion of
Namib Desert sand into sharp soft stone formations. Thanks to
ridges. Amazingly there are vegetation in the area, the dunes
animals, insects and plants that were stabilized 10,000 to 20,000
reside in this beautiful, yet years ago. Strangely enough, the
mostly inhospitable region of the grasses, thorny shrubs and Acacia
world. One of its most unusual trees can survive long drought
inhabitants, the Welwitschia, is periods of more than 10 months a
a shrub-like plant that grows year. Some scientists don’t
just two long, strap-shaped consider the Kalahari a true
leaves continuously throughout desert because some parts of the
its lifetime. It is believed that Kalahari receive more than 10
they are very long-lived, inches of rain in a year. Animals
possibly living 1000 years or that live in the region include
more. Some individuals may be brown hyena, lion, meerkat,
more than 2000 years old. several species of antelope, and
many types of birds and reptiles.
The Kalahari Desert - A
About the Author:
Eyes on Africa, an African safari company, boasts an extremely knowledgeable team of staff members, who are passionate about every aspect of travel to Southern Africa, including its wildlife and safari destinations. When you're ready to plan your African safari, a holiday in Africa, or if you just have questions, please feel free to contact us toll free at 800-457-9575 or visit our web site at http://www.eyesonafrica.net/contactus.htm and complete an information request form.
Read more articles by: James Weis
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