View of Camels at the Sahara Desert
Photo by: bachmont, Creative Commons
The Sahara Desert is the greatest and the hottest desert in the world. It is spread over 9,000,000 Square Km. It covers the entire North Africa and thus, makes it as big as the United States. The desert starts from the red sea, over to the Mediterranean, cross to some parts of the Atlantic Ocean. As far as the history of the Sahara Desert goes, it takes us back 3 million years. The sand dunes of the dessert are very big, so huge that they can go up to a height of 600 feet.
Life in the Sahara Desert is very difficult due to its climate. It receives a total rain of less than 3 inches every year. It is likely that it rains twice in one week and not in the next three years. There are a lot of Oases in the dessert, but because of its mere size, it’s not easy to trace it.
The Sahara Dessert is the hottest place in the world with the temperature touching up to 57.7 degree Celsius (135.8 degree F). Scientists has stated that the desert expands and shrinks every now and then. Currently, it is recorded that it’s growing towards the south by 48 km every year. The typical fauna that can be seen in the desert are domestic camels and goats. As far as the wild fauna is concerned, it is a common sight to see a scorpion, monitor lizard, sand vipers, wild dogs, sstrich cheetah etc. the only kinds of birds that can be visible are African Silverbill and black throated fire finch.