The largest hot desert on Earth, stretching across eleven countries of North Africa in a sea of dunes, rock and gravel plains.
Area
9,200,000 km²
Continent
Africa
Location
Across 11 countries of North Africa
Temperature
Up to 50°C in summer
Rainfall
Under 100 mm a year
Climate
Hot desert
About the Sahara
The Sahara reaches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, a vast expanse of towering dunes, bare rock plateaus and endless gravel plains. Despite its reputation, only about a quarter of it is actually sand — much is rock and stone. Beneath the surface lie huge reserves of ancient groundwater that feed scattered oases where people have lived for thousands of years.
Did you know?
It is roughly the size of the United States and covers about a third of the entire African continent.
Highlights
- The largest hot desert in the world
- Dunes here can rise higher than 150 metres
- Home to the Tuareg and other desert peoples
Photo gallery
Life in the Sahara
Animals, birds and plants that have adapted to survive this landscape.
Animals
Dromedary camel
The one-humped “ship of the desert”, able to go for days without water.
Fennec fox
The tiniest fox on Earth, its huge ears shed heat and track prey.
Addax
A pale, spiral-horned antelope that almost never needs to drink.
Sand cat
A small wildcat with furry foot-pads that walk unburnt across hot sand.
Birds
Ostrich
The world’s largest bird — flightless, but able to sprint at 70 km/h.
Lappet-faced vulture
A huge, powerful vulture that soars above African and Arabian deserts.
Sandgrouse
Flies vast distances to water and soaks it up in its breast feathers.
Trees & plants
Date palm
The classic oasis tree, feeding desert peoples with sweet dates for millennia.
Acacia (thorn tree)
Flat-topped thorn trees that survive on scarce desert groundwater.
Day & night in the Sahara
Deserts are famous for their extreme temperature swings. Flip between day and night to feel the difference — these are typical figures for a subtropical desert.
Midday sun
+45°C
typical daytime high
Blistering daytime heat gives way to surprisingly cool nights — clear skies let the day’s warmth escape, and the temperature can tumble by 30°C or more after dark.
Recorded range for the Sahara: Up to 50°C in summer