Here are 20 Interesting Sahara Desert facts.
1-5 Sahara Desert Facts
1. A wobble of Earth’s axis causes the Sahara to cycle between desert and grassland every 23,000 years. – Source
2. Nutrient-laden sand from the Sahara travels more than 3,000 miles to fertilize the soil in the Amazon. It is one of the leading reasons for the extreme biodiversity of the region. – Source
3. The Sahara Desert Ant is able to form a direct route back to its nest after foraging by adding and subtracting the vectors of its path in its head, thereby creating a short and distinct return path. – Source
4. A 30-mile giant eye in the Sahara once served as a geographical landmark for astronauts. – Source
5. There’s a society of 1.2 million where men wear veils and women do not; where most women are literate while most men are illiterate; and where livestock is owned by the women. And they’re Muslim, living in the middle of the Sahara. – Source
6-10 Sahara Desert Facts
6. There is a Stonehenge type megalithic stone, calendar structure in the Sahara, built around 6000 years ago. – Source
7. Dust from the Sahara has produced a massive carbon sink in the Bahamas, and humans could mimic nature by artificially repeating the process elsewhere. – Source
8. There was once a plan to flood below sea level areas of the Sahara, creating large inland seas that would bring humid air, rain, and agriculture deep into the desert. – Source
9. There is a 2,700km long wall running through the Sahara. Created in 1987 it is still manned 24/7/365 by thousands of soldiers, supported by radar and surveillance equipment, and it features the longest continuous minefield in the world. – Source
10. A substance called “Libyan Desert Glass” is found in the Eastern Sahara and the deserts of Libya, this glass is of unknown origin and has been found in ancient Egyptian Jewelry such as Tutankhamun’s Pectoral. – Source
11-15 Sahara Desert Facts
11. There was a solitary tree in the Sahara, keeping itself alive with a 110′ deep root system. Until a drunk driver managed to ram his truck into it. – Source
12. An ancient mega lake existed beneath the Sahara at one point covering over 42,000 square miles. – Source
13. The Sahara is large enough to cover almost all of the United States. Its name means “desert” in Arabic, so calling it the “Sahara Desert” would equate to calling it the “‘Desert’ Desert”. – Source
14. The Sahara Resurrection Plant can survive over 100 years without water. It completely dries up and rolls around the desert until it finds the wet ground and then only buds if it happens to rain shortly after that. – Source
15. There is a memorial to UTA Flight 772 in the middle of the Sahara, using the wreckage from the crash and hundreds of miles from the nearest city. It is visible on Google Maps. – Source
6-10 Sahara Desert Facts
16. There’s a marathon that treks 251 km (156 mi) over the span of 6 days in the Sahara. – Source
17. It has snowed on three occasions in the Sahara in the last 40 years: in 1979, 2016, and in January 2018. In all these cases, the snow melted quickly, and the desert reverted to its sandy landscape. – Source
18. The Sahara is the third largest desert in the world. A desert is defined by extremely low levels of precipitation. – Source
19. There is an art installation in the Sahara which covers over 100,000 square meters and can be seen from the sky. – Source
20. Timbuktu, as in the saying “From here to Timbuktu”, is a city in the African country of Mali, and located in the Sahara. – Source
The place looks like paradise. however, i wouldn’t recommend myself or anyone go there. We’re truly invasive to everywhere we’ve inhabited. The nature is beautiful yet terrifying at the same time.