!!!Sahara Desert, Algeria

Photos and text by Sergey Semenov and Stanislav Sedov,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

30 January 2019

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

When speaking about deserts, we usually tend to imagine the area of
endless sand under the blazing sun. That's not entirely true: the
world's largest desert is a very cold place covered by snow. We talk
about the Antarctic Desert covering the area of 14 million sq km. While
the second largest desert of the world is just the hot one, the Sahara
Desert in Africa.

[{Image src='01_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='499'}]

Occupying the area of 9 million sq km, it covers 30% of the total
territory of Africa and is divided between many countries. AirPano team
has created several panoramas of its northern part, on the territory of
Algeria. It is an astonishing beauty: the area seems to be monotonous
only at first sight, when in fact, the landscape is picturesque and
anything but dull.

[{Image src='02_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='461'}]

The name "Sahara", according to a certain version, is derived from an
ancient Arabic word "sahra" meaning "red-brown". The landscape of the
desert consists of plateaus, highlands, valleys, dunes having the shades
of these colours. The sand massifs are so extensive that they have a
special word for it in the Arabic language, "erg" (or "dune sea").

[{Image src='03_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='403'}]

The largest ergs, the Erg Chech and the Erg Iguidi in the west, the
Grand Erg Occidental and the Grand Erg Oriental, are located in northern
Algeria. The sandy ridges of round, star-like, transverse,  crescent and
pyramidal shapes can be met here. Their average height is 150 meters,
but there are dunes of 300 meters high, as well. They are fastened
together by rare cereal or shrub vegetation and divided by clay
passages.

Oases can be found between them, while in the ancient times there was a
larger number of them. Thus, scientists have found the ruins of the
Roman military camps, sections of caravan routes, remnants of olive
pressing buildings and ancient irrigation systems on the territory of
the Grand Erg Oriental.

[{Image src='04_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='420'}]

There are rivers in Sahara, too! One of them runs through the Algerian
Desert, known as the Wadi Igargar which is a dry riverbed that contains
water only when heavy rain occurs. This kind of riverbeds helps to form
barchan and star-like dunes: when overcoming these landforms, the wind
puts the sand in a special way.

Taking into account migrating birds, the overall number of living
species in Sahara is 300, including hyenas, baboons, cheetahs, donkeys,
mongooses, monitor lizards. Just have a look at the strict beauty of the
African desert — the place where extreme weather conditions created a
fantastic and far from lifeless landscape.

[{Image src='05_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Our experience suggested that a trip to the Sahara Desert is not so
expensive and not that complicated to organise as it may seem. For
example, in Djanet, a city in southern Algeria, there are several travel
agencies that are ready to take any tourist to the desert in an equipped
car with a guide, driver and chief cook at the cost of $140 per day. But
this kind of recreation is close to an outdoor activity as you will have
to stay overnight in a tent.

[{Image src='06_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='360'}]

The majority of Tuareg* guides (*a Berber ethnic group) are cheerful and
helpful people ready to be photographed in their national clothes, treat
tourists with the traditional Tuareg tea and bake a traditional bread on
fire. Depending on a season, you can notice a riverbed with small pools
and several water sources big enough to bathe in. Visiting different
sights is also included in the tour. The plateaus, arches, unusual rock
and volcanic formations that resemble statues, a huge number of ancient
petroglyphs (dated 6,000 years BC) and a great number of various dunes
of different colours ranging from light-yellow and red-brown to black
are among these sights.

[{Image src='07_Sahara Desert.jpg' caption='Sahara Desert, Algeria\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='393'}]

On your way, you can meet rare animals and birds: herons, camels,
lizards, mouses, jerboas, fennec foxes and other inhabitants of the
desert. There are also a lot of different snakes and insects. Before
travelling you should carefully check the weather forecast: summer in
Sahara can be extremely hot, while in February the temperature can drop
to 0?. The most comfortable season for travelling here is the end of
autumn or the middle of spring when the temperature is around +25...+30?
in a daytime and +20? at night. Have a fun adventure!

\\ \\
[17 panoramas of 360° Panoramas of Sahara in Algeria|Geography/Africa/Algeria/Pictures/pano1]

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