Sahara

The Great Sandy Desert

The Sahara is the biggest hot desert in the whole world! It covers a huge part of North Africa. It is so big that it stretches across many countries, including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara, and parts of Morocco and Tunisia.

The Sahara reaches from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. To the north, it touches the Mediterranean Sea, and to the south, it meets the Sahel, a place with dry grasslands.

Even though the Sahara looks very dry today, it did not always look like this. Long, long ago, it had more grass and water. Changes in the way Earth moves around the Sun made the desert grow bigger over thousands of years.

Life in the Desert

Even in this dry place, some plants and animals can live. Plants like acacia trees and palms grow close to the ground and store water inside to stay alive. Animals such as the fennec fox, dromedary camels, and addax antelope have special ways to survive with little water.

Oases, small green spots in the desert, are very important. They give water and food to people and animals. Big cities like Nouakchott and Timbuktu are found near these special places.

Amazing Views and Tall Mountains

The Sahara has many different landscapes. There are huge sand dunes that look like big waves frozen in time. Some areas have rocky hills, and others have flat lands covered in gravel. The highest mountain in the Sahara is Emi Koussi in Chad. It is very tall and looks like a giant sleeping lion.

People have lived in the Sahara for a very long time. They made beautiful rock paintings that show animals and people from long ago. These paintings help us learn about life in the past.