Little-known facts about the Sahara Desert

Do you want to explore this land of wonder and madness, where sometimes people have to drink bat blood to survive?

Today, it can be terrifyingly hot, but the Sahara was once the cradle of life, home to thousands of ancient inhabitants.

Even though the sun scorches fiercely all day, the Sahara now experiences snowfall. Despite the necessity of drinking bat blood and urine if lost, the desert leaves everyone astonished by the innocent, sacred nature of its sand cats.

Do you want to experience the wonders and madness of the largest desert on the planet?

1. The Sahara Desert was once lush and green

According to geological studies, about 12,000 years ago, a few prehistoric people had to temporarily seek refuge here. Violent wars forced them to abandon the fertile Nile Valley, seeking a livelihood around the lakes in the arid desert.

The desert was once very fertile.

But as if it knew how to be kind, about 10,500 years ago, the Sahara welcomed an unusual monsoon. Rain poured down across the desert. The dead land awakened, and plants began to sprout, flower, and bear fruit.

Rain continued to fall regularly across the Sahara for the next 5,000 years. Ancient people flocked to the region, learning to raise livestock, cultivate crops, and thrive.

But nature is a fickle mistress. After 5,000 years of joy with humanity, the Sahara suddenly turned hostile. The monsoons disappeared. Prolonged droughts ensued, and temperatures skyrocketed.

Unable to appease the Sahara, ancient people packed up and returned to the Nile Valley. Wars and looting erupted once again, ultimately forming a despotic monarchy led by the pharaohs.

2. And it snows now

In 2017, snow once again blanketed Ain Sefra.

Since that turning point over 5,000 years ago, the Sahara has never ceased to be scorching hot. However, in December 2016, it unexpectedly snowed in the desert region of Ain Sefra, Algeria.

In fact, Ain Sefra is located at a relatively high altitude – about 1,078 meters above sea level. If it weren’t within the Sahara, snowfall would be quite ordinary.

It was thought that snowfall in the desert would only happen once. Surprisingly, in 2017, snow covered Ain Sefra again. Winter is just around the corner. If snow continues to accompany winter in Ain Sefra, humanity may need to get used to a new normal concept called “desert snow”.

3. Dust storms stretch for thousands of kilometers

The terrifying sandstorms.

Due to the Sahara’s extreme lack of water, the soil cannot bind. It turns into fine dust. The scorching temperatures generate winds that lift the dust skyward.

The Sahara is vast, covering 9,000,000 square kilometers. When a dust storm forms, it can stretch for thousands of kilometers and last for up to 12 hours.

In May 2011, NASA’s Space Agency captured a dust storm stretching 1,100 kilometers in the Sahara. Just an additional 500 kilometers, and this dust storm would be as long as the entire S-shaped land of Vietnam.

4. If you get lost, be prepared to drink bat blood

With such long and persistent dust storms, you will get lost immediately if you happen to encounter one. Despite the dangers, long-distance running competitions across the Sahara are held very regularly.

In 1994, during a 6-day marathon race across the Sahara, athlete Mauro Prosperi unfortunately got separated from his group. With no backup drinking water left, Prosperi had to resort to using a bottle to collect urine for later.

Mauro Prosperi – the athlete who endured 10 days of hell in the Sahara.

While wandering in search of an exit, Prosperi was fortunate to discover a ruined temple in the desert. The temple was filled with bats. He immediately caught a few, removed their heads, and drank their blood.

On the 10th day lost in the desert, Prosperi was nearly a skeleton. He attempted to cut his wrist to commit suicide, but his blood had thickened to the point where it wouldn’t flow.

Fortunately, rescue teams found Prosperi, ending his days of drinking blood and eating raw meat (lizards or desert snakes). Prosperi burst into tears, not out of joy, but because the marathon had ended, and he was the only one who did not complete the race.

After that frustrating failure, Prosperi continued to participate in desert marathons. His highest record was finishing 12th place in 2001.

5. Selling oneself for luck

Even if you are unlucky enough to get lost in the desert today, you can still hope for rescue from a rescue team. But in the past, it was different; no one would come to save you. Moreover, there was still a belief that the minorities living in the Sahara were cannibal tribes.

In 1815, a merchant ship captained by James Riley (USA) sank near the Sahara coast. Both the captain and crew frantically swam to shore. It might have been better for them to survive on the beach and find a way to repair the ship, but fearing rumors, they returned to the ship.

Even if you are unlucky enough to get lost in the desert today, you can still hope for rescue from a rescue team.

After 9 days of exposure to the sun and rain at sea, they couldn’t take it anymore and swam back to shore. Hell truly opened its gates then. A slave trader happened to pass by and struck gold. Some crew members were sold, while others died of hunger and abuse.

Refusing to give up, Riley used all his tricks and finally succeeded in convincing a merchant to buy him and the remaining 4 crew members. Riley swore he would repay the merchant a thousand times the amount spent to buy them.

Moved, the merchant agreed to the deal. After another 2 years of walking and diligently serving this merchant, Riley finally returned home.

6. Or building a motorcycle from scratch

The desire to conquer the Sahara has never left humanity’s mind. In 1993, Emile Leray, a French electrician, was determined to undertake a journey across the Sahara in the slowest car in the world, the Citroen 2CV.

Not even a day into the desert, Leray’s Citroen 2CV broke down. Not wanting to sit idly by and wait for death, he dismantled the car body to create a shelter, attempting to transform the leftover scrap metal into a motorcycle.

Emile Leray and his improvised rescue vehicle.

It sounds like science fiction, but Leray actually succeeded. The only problem was that this makeshift vehicle refused to move forward and required him to… drive backward.

Leray thought it would take him 2 or 3 days to finish, but it ended up taking 12 days. Exhausted, he climbed onto the rickety vehicle and drove backward (both literally and figuratively) out of the desert.

After a day and a half of craning his neck backward, Leray encountered a patrol officer in Morocco. They rescued him but also fined him a substantial amount for driving a vehicle that did not match the one registered upon entry.

7. But still incredibly adorable

Don’t think that the desert is just full of ugly armored animals like iguanas, lizards, and spine-chilling survival tales. The desert also has a super cute furry creature called the sand cat.

Sand Cat.

Despite how daunting the desert may seem, all grievances will instantly fade away when you come face to face with a sand cat. Their oversized head and large eyes on a petite body make them utterly adorable.

It is quite rare to encounter sand cats because they are extremely wary. With their small size, light weight, and furry footpads, they leave no trace on the sand. Surprisingly, even though they live in the scorching desert, sand cats have a thick, soft coat in sandy or gray colors.

Your heart will skip a beat at the unmatched innocence and angelic appearance of sand cats, but don’t be fooled. They are actually one of the fiercest predators in the desert.

Even venomous snakes can become unfortunate prey under the claws of these wicked felines with their heavenly faces.

8. Approximately 500 Plant Species

These include fast-growing plants that can withstand drought, such as cacti and paper grass. Some species can germinate within 10 minutes and root within 10 hours. In the Mediterranean region, olive trees are common.

The central part of the desert has extremely limited vegetation. The northern and southern extremes of the desert, along with the plateau, feature sparse grasslands and shrub deserts.

9. Oases Cover 2% of the Area

Oases serve as the economic centers in the desert.

Despite the extremely harsh temperatures, there are underground water sources beneath the desert. Subterranean rivers flowing from the Atlas Mountains rise to the surface, creating oases that make up over 2% of the total area. In these oases, tall date palms not only prevent sand encroachment but also provide food for the inhabitants.

Oases play a crucial role as economic centers in the desert. However, the settlers in the oases engage in agriculture, referred to as date inhabitants. In contrast, nomadic peoples such as the Arabs and Berbers in northern Sahara live in tents, searching for water and grass, hence they are called camel inhabitants.

10. A Treasure Trove of Books in the Heart of the Desert

The city of Chinguetti in Mauritania, West Africa, is a colossal library amid the vast desert. This city was once one of the bustling and wealthy trade centers for merchants from Africa and North Africa.

It houses an immense collection of over 6,000 books along with rare manuscripts. This heritage has been recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site that needs preservation.

11. Sahara is Only 30% Sand

Sahara features diverse landscapes.

Sahara is known for its gigantic sand dunes. However, it boasts diverse terrain, with various landforms such as rocky plateaus, pebble-covered plains, valleys, and salt flats. Scientists have spent many years trying to explain these landforms.

12. “The Eye of the Sahara”

The geological formation known as the Richat Structure is one of the most unique features of the Sahara Desert.

Located in rural Mauritania, the Richat Structure is a natural dome formed from multiple layers of sedimentary rock. The rocks are arranged in perfect circles, giving this area a striking appearance when viewed from above. Scientists first discovered this area in the 1930s and began to study it to understand what it was. Initially, they believed that a meteorite impacting Earth millions of years ago might have caused the circular phenomenon. However, this hypothesis has recently lost its credibility.

The formation of the Eye of the Sahara remains a mystery. (Image: Business Insider).

In the 2000s, evidence emerged showing that a meteorite did not create “The Eye of the Sahara.” However, geologists still assert that they do not know why it is there. Some believe that hydrothermal water may have accumulated in that area in the past, leading to the unique rock formation and sediment deposition.

Currently, the prevailing theory is that the Eye of the Sahara is actually a geological dome that has been uplifted. Scientists often refer to it as a dome-shaped curve. Regardless of its origins and formation time, the Eye of the Sahara is truly magnificent.

13. Sahara is Only Half the Story

At the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, along the borders of countries like Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Chad, Nigeria, and Mali, lies an area known as the Sahel.

Sahel is a tropical savanna that can be very lush and vibrant during the rainy season but becomes extremely dry and desolate during droughts. Much like the Sahara Desert, Sahel stretches almost along the coast of Africa and serves as a boundary region between the harshest climate of the Sahara Desert and the more tropical areas of the continent as it moves south towards the equator.

14. Flourishing Desert Civilizations

While ancient Greeks and Romans dominated Europe, those in the Sahara Desert developed a brilliant civilization in the hemisphere. Just south of the Mediterranean, right in the middle of the Sahara Desert, scientists have discovered several prominent ancient civilizations that rose and thrived before fading and merging into other cultures.

Leading among these was a group known as the Garamantes. They rose to power in what is now Libya around 500 BCE and controlled the region for thousands of years. They survived in the desert by digging deep wells. There, they could access water for agriculture, helping crops to grow and thrive.

Diagram of excavated buildings in ancient Garama. (Image: World Archaeology).

Although they were semi-nomadic, the Garamantes built an impressive civilization. They constructed architectural works, created art, established communities, and ultimately succeeded in living in one of the harshest climates in the world.

However, by the 7th century CE, water supplies dwindled, forcing them to leave the desert and merge with other civilizations.

• When did the Sahara Desert form?
• The Strange Structure on the Sahara Desert