By: David H.
Submitted: 2009-10-15 05:23:59 | Word Count: 615
If you think deserts are only fun places for safari rides, think again. You’ll discover what more the Sahara has to offer.
From Clive Cussler’s exciting adventure thriller packed with masterful infusion of historical confusion making readers, we wonder if it were a fiction book they were reading. The Sahara Desert holds the world awed and fascinated with its many secrets buried in its vast stretch of sand.
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But from Dirk Pitt’s adventures in the desert to Matt McConaughey’s performance on the big screen, the Sahara has been the subject of various literary and cinema works, even musical pieces – all of which has fueled the curiosity and fired up the sense of Sahara desert adventure even more.
The Sahara is the world’s largest desert, stretching about 9 million square kilometers across Northern Africa. The total land area is almost as big as the United States or all of continental Europe. Starting from the banks of the Red Sea to the outskirts of the Atlantic, the Sahara got its name from the Arabic word sahra, which means desert.
Its history dates back over three million years ago and sand dunes pile up to as high as 600 feet. The Sahara holds fascinating tales and secrets buried in its sands, stretched across it in wide open spaces.
Sahara Attractions
Of course, beyond the vast emptiness that has claimed thousands, possibly millions of lives through the millennia of its existence, the Sahara offer modern and curious tourists some fun desert activities.
Who go touring a desert region and miss a safari ride? It’s an experience only possible in the desert. The Sahara is the biggest and it’s undoubtedly the best place to enjoy one. Where to begin?
Tunisia would be a gentle introduction into Sahara in the North African region. It’s gentle Berber people and lovely temperate climate makes traversing this diverse country fun and enjoyable. From the Mediterranean to the Sahara, you see shady forests up north, grand Roman sites and Kasbahs in the midst of grand mountains.
Do you ever wonder which part of Africa frequently graces your Hollywood films? Well, that’s in Tunisia, an area around a place called Matmata. As if that’s not enough to satisfy a curious tourist, have a look at Kirouan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and find out what’s so charming about this African country.
Do you fancy a camel trek? Land in Morocco and enjoy a real camel ride atop a camel back, trek on foot towing one. Do all this amidst cobalt blue skies, beautiful desert oases with mountain summits filling the view on the horizon.
Or you can begin getting intimate with the Sahara from Marrakech. Anytime of the year but summer is a good time to visit. Pleasantly warm, Marrakech brings your feet on the desert floor itself. Experience a bit of nomadic lifestyle when you spend an overnight at a Bedouin camp. The Ait Benhaddou, a 16th century Kasbah gives you a taste of the desert’s modern history.
Libya’s Mediterranean feel becomes pleasantly apparent in this place that’s almost swallowed up by the vast open spaces of the Sahara. Giving you a feel of ancient Greece with Crete like verdant Jebel Akhdar region to the east and Roman ruins preserved with oil money, Libya has the world in one place, a taste of the world in the middle of the Sahara.
There is so much more to the desert spanning continent wide spaces than what meets the eye. Nature has definitely more to offer than tropical rain forests and white sandy beaches. The Sahara shows you there’s beauty in vast sandy emptiness.
