The Sahara is located in North Africa and is the biggest dry desert on Earth measuring around nine million square kilometres. It is as large as the entire United States Of America, twenty-six times larger than Germany and covers one third of the African Continent.

Most people think of the Sahara Desert as consisting mainly of sand. This is not true as it is stone and rock that cover most of its surface and its landscape features great plateaus of sandstone, volcanic sediment and five mountain ranges that rise to three thousand metres above sea level.

Despite the harsh environment, a lively and lucrative trans-Sahara trade developed across the desert in around 1,000 B.C. At first it was the Carthaginians and three centuries later trade reached a new high due to the Romans who introduced the camel as a beast of burden.

Three quarters of the Sahara is without vegetation and, due to the angle of the sun, it is the hottest region on Earth.

The unique charm of this barren and arid world is a total fascination and it is for good reason described as a ‘wonder of nature’!