While the Earth’s most impressive mountains, forests, lakes and islands are showcased on every corner of the world, one of Earth’s most inspiring natural art forms is to a great extent neglected, yes the desert.

SAHARA

Probably the first one that springs to mind, the Sahara Desert is the world’s hottest and third-largest desert in the world. Covering most of North Africa, the Sahara is almost as large as the United States! Named after the Arabic word for desert, temperatures can reach the 50 degree mark during high summer and at night can drop to near freezing. Sahara is also home to few impressive fauna, including several species of foxes.

GOBI

Gobi Desert covers parts of north-western China and southern Mongolia. The largest one in Asia. It is a cold desert depending on the time of year you may even find frost and snow here! The whole area is known the world over to archaeologists as the source of important fossils, particularly dinosaur eggs, ibex and brown bears.

ANTARCTIC

Winter darkness, cold, ice these might be some of the words used to describe the Antarctica. Antarctica is classified as a desert, perhaps the least hospitable. The continent has no permanent residents. What little snow it does receive never melts and turns into ice. You won’t find any flora except for moss and algae. As for animals, whales, seals and penguins can be seen there.

 

Photo Credit : bbcworld

NAMIB

The Namib Desert happens to be one of the oldest on the planet, at least 55 million years! It is situated along the Atlantic coast of Africa in the countries of Namibia, Angola, and South Africa. Although a desert, the land is inhabited by ‘desert’ elephants that can go days without water. Featuring some of the world’s tallest sand dunes, this is a land of epic cinematic landscapes.

Photo Credit : scottsporleder

ATACAMA

The Atacama Desert is known as “the driest desert in the world”, composed mostly of salt lakes and sand. Parts of the desert have never seen a drop of rain since records have been kept. Situated west of the Andes along the Pacific coast in Peru and Chile. More than a million people call this desert home. Due to its location along the coast, the Atacama is cooler than most deserts and is frequently covered with fog.