The Sahara Desert stretches out across North Africa like a golden sea--it is a landscape of legends, and silent, and survival. Reputedly the hottest desert in the world, the Sahara has been dazzling travelers, explorers and storytellers throughout the ages. The Sahara boasts of its never-ending dunes, secret oasis and eternal nomadic culture whose secrets can only be whispered to those who might dare make their way to the city of sandpaper.
The Glory of the Endless Sands
The amazing thing about the Sahara is the tall, white sand dunes that seem to appear and disappear as waves, except that they appear in a fixed spot. One of the most impressive dunes is Erg Chebbi in Morocco and the Grand Erg Oriental in Algeria where landscapes change their colors, flowing with the sun, orange at dawn and crimson at sunset. Such dunes are not merely the wonder of nature but and are alive, the sculpture of the wind.
A Contrast Desert
Though it is frequently pictured as a barren landscape, the Sahara Desert is a contrast-ridden place. The ground under the layer of sand is the basement of mountains, rocky plateaus, salt flats, invisible Sahara oasis where the life can be found in spite of all. Travelers can get an insight into the tenacity of the desert life in palm groves, in freshwater springs and small villages.
Popular Nights in the Night Sky
Spending a night under Sahara skies is one of the most memorable experiences that one will ever have. Without urban polluting lights, the desert unfolds to show the glittering Sahara night heavens at their best. Above there is Milky Way, and the shooting stars traverse the horizon. The stillness of the desert at night also has a near holy essence to many people giving it the nickname the the whispering desert.
The Wandering Spirit
Oases: Gem of the Sands
Tucked away behind the dunes are the Sahara lifelines- oases. Other water oases such as Siwa Oasis in Egypt, Tafilalt in Morocco have date palms, olive trees and freshwater springs that make such places a pocket heaven. Such oases acted as important rest stops of the caravans throughout the centuries, and are the symbol of survival and hope in the desert.
Mysteries of the Ancient Civilization
The Sahara conceals vestiges of long forgotten civilizations, in addition to its natural beauty. The rock carvings called Petroglyphs, geographical remains, and archaeological structures narrate the period when the Sahara was alive and was once a great arable land. There is some scepticism among some of the scientists that even the desert itself carries secrets of past human displacement and lost empires. Sahara still poses mysteries to find which is the adventure of the historians and adventurers.
Sahara adventuring
The murmuring winds
The Sahara is an echoing place--the sound of the soft wind blowing up and down the dunes, and the disquieting shuffle of a moving camel caravan, the faint pounding of tribal drums at night. These noises build what is also known as the whispers of the Sahara, a euphemistic way of saying gentle hints that the desert does, indeed, have a voice even when it is not mumbling.
Call of the Sahara
Poets, explorers and dreamers had been talking about the Sahara as a dangerous, and yet, beautiful place throughout centuries. It overwhelms the visitors into thinking about the power of nature and the incompetence of a person. Nevertheless, despite all of its tortures, the Sahara joins people of every side of the world, summoning them to see its magic, and to be engulfed in its silence.
Conclusion
Sahara Desert is not just a land that extends to infinity as a sand reservoir but a land full of life, a living, breathing land of mysteries, history and adventure. Its sand dunes and star-spangled sky, nomadic roots and lost oasis make the Sahara more than just a destination to visit--it is an experience.
In order to step on its sands is to enter a new world of calmness, and time, stopped in its passing, and silent voices, better than words, and a song of the desert in the lines, still. The Sahara is by far a destination where the secrets of the infinite dunes are to be discovered.
