The phrase “desert tours” brings to mind many things:
- camel rides,
- an interminable sea of sand,
- unique animals and plants,
- breathtaking sunrises and sunsets,
- and searing heat.
The harsh temperatures – from the freezing Antarctica to sizzling Sahara – are enough for anyone to stay away from deserts, but how can you avoid it when they occupy about a one-third of the planet’s land mass. Moreover, these biomes are very mysterious because, like the deep seas, the vast ones have just been lightly explored.
Deserts tours are coveted experiences for travelers who love adventure and discovering. These are great places to enjoy the outdoors – camp, to hike, bike and explore, even to fish and enjoy he unique offerings of the desert biome. If you are up for the challenge, know that there are 10 Most Fascinating Deserts you would like to consider should you decide to embark on a desert tour in the future. This post is shared in Oddee by Grace Murano. Here’s the list and their top features:
Desert Tours Around the World
- Taklamakan (Central Asia): a desert covered with snowfall
This is one of the world’s largest sand deserts. “It covers an area of 270,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi) of the Tarim Basin, 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) long and 400 kilometers (250 mi) wide.”The Silk Road branches at Taklamakan’s northern and at southern to provide travelers alternative routes to cross this arid wasteland. The rare massive and extended snowfall in 2008 covered about 337,600 square kilometers of this desert; this never happened before.
2. Lençóis Maranhenses (Brazil): ‘desert tours’ with lagoons
“… Located in the State of Maranhão, on the north shore of Brazil, the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is an area of about 300 square kilometers (155,000 ha) of blinding white dunes and deep blue lagoons, forming one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world.” It is unique because raindrops fill the depressions in between the dunes to create “ponds” with crystal clear water, which is home to several species of aquatic biota.
3. Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia): the world’s largest salt desert
This iconic feature is an immense salt desert in the middle of the Altiplano. “It is an expansive, virtually flat desert that reflects the sun in such a way as to create a mirror effect with the sky.” The other major salt desert is Salar de Coipasa. Uyuni is estimated to hold 10 billion tons of salt, from which 25,000 tons is extracted yearly.
4. Farafra (Egypt): the white desert
Dubbed as “Sahara el Beyda,” this white desert of Egypt is unique with its creamy white, color and colossal chalk rock formations formed by occasional sandstorms in the region.
5. Atacama (Chile): the flourished desert
This desert is said to be the driest place in the world. Its saving grace is the “camanchacas” or coastal mists that sustain the life of the living things, particularly in the south of Antofagasta.
6. Namib (Namibia): the only desert with elephants
The Namib Desert is smaller than the Sahara but just as inspiring. Its Sossusvlei sand dunes are among the loftiest in the world. What makes this seemingly oldest desert in the world unique are the elephants and the amazing diversity of life forms here.
7. Simpson Desert (Australia): the red sand desert
“The Big Red,” as the Simpson Desert is called, has the world’s most extensive parallel or north-south oriented red sand dunes. These are held in place by the growing plants in these sand formations. The most popular of these is Nappanerica, which is about 40 meters in height.
8. The Black Desert (Egypt): the desert with black stones
These are “… volcano-shaped mountains with large quantities of small black stones.” Lying against the orange-brown ground, the black color is less intense. This desert offers a really scenic view from above, but is uninhabited.
9. Antarctica: world’s driest and wettest desert
Antarctica is a land of extremes. It is the wettest having 98 percent of the world’s ice, but it is also the driest getting very little precipitation. This makes it theoretically a desert, though a brutally cold one.
10. Sahara (North Africa): world’s largest desert
This vast desert is inhabited by about 4 million people. “… Sahara covers most of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali, and touches Morocco and Tunisia.” Sahara is extremely arid with an annual rainfall that is just a few dozen millimeters per annum.
Interested in going on desert tours in any of these places? Find out more; check The Best Desert Holidays and Tours by Chris Leadbeater for Telegraph Travel. Aside from suggesting some wonderful destinations for desert tours – Sahara Desert (Morocco), Kalahari Desert (Botswana), Atacama Desert (Chile), Gobi Desert (Mongolia) Great Sandy Desert (Australia), Bardenas Reales Natural Park (Spain), Bardenas Reales Natural Park (Spain), Mojave Desert (USA), Sonoran Desert (USA), and Antarctica – Leadbeater also offers readers additional relevant information.