DESERTS IN AFRICA : Many features of the huge continent of Africa are well known, involving its expansive and diverse desert regions.
Africa has several deserts because of the vastness and variety of its ecosystems.
As you’ll see, the deserts in Africa and North Africa are considerably unlike; both regions are worth exploring.
After reading this article, you’ll know more about the desert in Africa and what makes them so unique. If you want to know more about “DESERTS IN AFRICA”, continue reading!
DESERTS IN AFRICA
Here are the deserts in Africa, some most amazing deserts of Africa, listed in decreasing order.
Sahara Desert
The Sahara Desert is the largest in the world and is enormous. This region of North Africa encompasses 12 nations: the country of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, the western part of the Sahara, Sudan, & Tunisia.
Most of the 4 million inhabitants who call the Sahara Desert home are from Mauritania, the western part of the Sahara, Algeria, Libya, & Egypt.
It makes sense that a desert this size would have many different geographic features, such as dunes of sand, salt flats, rock plateaus, gravel plains, & arid valleys. The size of the desert is constantly expanding and contracting.
Additionally, the Sahara is the world’s largest hot desert. The summertime maximum temperature is 122°F.
The Sahara is home to a sizable population of humans in addition to a wide variety of other animals.
The Sahara, one of the largest deserts in the world, is home to over 300 species of birds, as well as gerbils, jerboa, cape hares, deserts hedgehogs in particular barbary sheep, oryx, gazelles, deer, wild donkeys as well baboons, hyenas, jackals, sand foxes, weasels, and mongoose.
Karoo Desert
South Africa is home to the Karoo Desert. It is home to a wide variety of creatures, including antelopes, quagga, wildebeest and aquatic rabbits, locusts and lions, leopards, who are cheetahs, African desert prairie dogs, hyenas, jackals, & ostriches.
This vast desert is divided into two distinct areas: the western Succulents Karoo Biome and the southern interior plateau of South Africa, mostly covered by the name of the Karoo Biome.
The Succulents Karoo is home to the largest desert in the world, a variety of succulent plants, with approximately 10,000 different kinds!
There are water sources beneath the ground all over the Karoo, providing for grazing & consumption by humans.
Kalahari Desert
South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana are all covered by the Kalahari. Sand dunes have been eroded by winds, leaving behind unusual soft stone formations.
Long droughts lasting in excess of ten months at a time are endured by gasses, prickly bushes, and acacia trees.
This desert is home to brown Hyenas, roaring lion meerkats, antelopes, birds as pets, & reptiles.
Since the Kalahari receives more than the required 10 inches of precipitation annually in some areas, some experts actually do not consider it a true desert.
Danakil Desert
One of the harshest ecosystems in the entire desert in Africa can be found in the Danakil Desert, which Djibouti, Eritrea, & Ethiopia share.
Lava lakes, bubbling springs, geysers, active volcanoes, and rainbow salt lakes dot the terrain.
With a little over an inch of annual rainfall and searing temperatures that sometimes exceed 122°F, the Sahara Desert constitutes one of the lowest and hottest regions on Earth.
Nevertheless, a few species—including oryx, ostriches, vultures, & many bird species—endure the high temperatures and make the Danakil their home.
Chalbi Desert
The Chalbi Desert, one of Kenya’s hottest and driest regions, is situated east of Lake Turkana. This should come as no surprise, given that its name is taken from the Gabbra term for “bare & salty.”
A stunning environment is created by the boulders and dried clay forms scattered around this old riverbed.
The most likely animals you will see in the Chalbi will be an oryx, ostrich, and zebra.
Namib Desert
The Nama term “Namib” is a fitting name for the African desert in southern Africa because it signifies “vast” in that language. The region has the largest dunes of sand on the earth, which are ridges of wind-blown sand.
Given that it has been dry or semi-dry for at least the last 80 million years, the Namib Desert is considered the youngest desert in the world.
The Namib Desert extends over Angola, Namibia, & South Africa alongside the Atlantic coast of Southern Africa.
Baboons, leopards, as well hyenas, cheetahs, klipspringers, zebras, and even some wild desert horses live in the Namib Desert.
Guban Desert
A slender stretch of these scorching, arid plains separates the Somali cities of Zeila & Berbera.
Nearly two inches of rainfall in this coastal desert each year makes it exceedingly hot and humid. The neighbouring Galgodon Highlands’ Guban perennial wells are where local tribes raise their own camels and goats.
Sandy periodic watercourses provide water for the scarce steppe vegetation.
Nyiri Desert
Kenya is home to the Nyiri Desert, often called the Nyika or Taru Desert.
Because of its location in the Mount Kilimanjaro rain shadow, Africa’s highest mountain, the Nyiri receives incredibly little rainfall.
Large creatures, including animals such as elephants, rhinoceros, giraffe lions, leopards, & kudu, are supported by a number of significant springs. Baobabs and other small, prickly trees can also survive on these springs’ water.
Deserte de Grand Bara
In Djibouti, a dried-up lake bed is where you may find the Grand Bara Desert.
Large sand plains with isolated areas of scarce desert grasses and plants make up the area today. There aren’t any plants or trees on this barren, flat land.
However, a few big species of human beings, such as the dik-dik or oryx, have become accustomed to the area.
Lompoul Desert
The largest orange dunes of sand desert in Africa are the smallest desert, have made it an unexpectedly popular vacation spot.
The Sahara & Namib deserts are frequently contrasted with the much smaller dunes.
Every year, locals host the “Festival du Sahel” in the middle of the desert. Among towns and cities of Dakar & Saint-Louis, Senegal is where this little desert is situated.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the article has attempted to explain “DESERTS IN AFRICA”. I hope the language in this post is clear and understandable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1) What Is A Desert?
Ans. A desert refers to a vast, arid area with little to no vegetation and few living things (up to ten inches of water per year).
Certain deserts are covered in snow, but most are coated with sand, rocks, and dirt.
They frequently experience significant temperature swings from the day to the night.
Q2) What Are Africa’s Four Principal Deserts?
Ans. Although there are many dry areas in Africa, the Sahara Desert, Kalahari Desert, Karoo Desert, & Namib Deserts are the biggest deserts.
Q3) Which African desert is the biggest?
Ans. The Sahara is a desert located on the continent of Africa. It is the biggest hot desert in the world & the third-biggest desert overall with a total surface of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), being only slightly smaller than the vast deserts of Antarctica & the northern Arctic.
Q4) What African desert is the oldest?
Ans. The Namib Desert across southern Africa is said to be the planet’s oldest desert. It also produces some of the tallest dunes on the planet. The Namib Sand Sea, a portion of the desert that covers 34,000 sq. km. (13,000 sq miles) of coastal Namibia, contains many of the highest dunes.
Q5) Where is the Sahara desert?
Ans. Africa is home to the Sahara desert, which spans several nations in Northern Africa. The icy deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are larger beyond the Sahara desert.
