Auto |
The Sahara Desert, named after the Arabic word for desert ~ sahra,
is the second largest desert in the world covering an area of some
3,630,000 square miles with sand dunes 590 feet tall, the only
larger desert being in Antarctica. Fossil formation
founds in the Sahara indicate that much of the area was once wet
and home to an abundance of life with animal and human remains
found at over 150 sites. The weathering of the Sphinx in
Egypt, once believed to be from sandstorms, is now widely
believed to be from rainfall, providing further evidence for this. However, from around 8000 to 4000 years ago the area underwent
a change from a landscape of grasslands and shrubs to the
desert area we see today. Some identify the cause of this change
as a shift in the earth's tilt from 24.14 degrees 9000 years
ago to 23.45 degrees today.
Although the Sahara
does receive some rainfall, it is very sporadic and some times
after rain, there will be no more for years. The driest place in
the Sahara Desert is in an area of Algeria known as Tidikelt,
where there has now not been a drop of rain for over ten years,
however, it is generally accepted that over the Sahara there is
between 5 to 10 inches of rain a year compared with 24 to 33
inches for the UK per annum. This dryness and
heat (the highest temperature ever recorded being in Aziziyah,
Libya 136f or 58c), make most of the Sahara
uninhabitable apart from the nomads who frequent its many oases.
The general population of the Sahara is believed to be around
four million, however most of these live in less harsh areas on
the borders of the desert in Egypt, Libya, Algeria and
Mauritania. With growing desertification southwards, the desert,
which has a history of expanding and shrinking, is now
encroaching on communities in Niger and elsewhere promoting the
idea of the Great Green Wall, a man made strip of land some
nine miles wide that is to be constructed from Dakar to
Eritrea across Africa, to hold back this desertification.
|
|
Details of current volunteer work
opportunities in each of the
countries of Africa.
Find how to sponsor a child in Africa
with our list of organisations,
charities, programs and projects.
Discover all about Africa, its tourist
attractions, history, people, culture
and daily life there.
A treasure trove of African
resources from webcams to
free downloads and news.