Hot Desert -
Sahara, the world and Africa The Sahara desert is the largest desert in the world, spread over a large area of North Africa. It is spread over an area of about 8.54 lakh square kilometres. The area of India is 3.2 lakh square kilometer? The Sahara Desert is surrounded by eleven countries. These countries are – Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara. The Sahara desert is not only covered by vast layers of sand, but there are also gravel plains and uplifted plateaus with bare rocky surfaces. These rocky surfaces are more than 2500 meters high in some places. In the Al Azizia region of the Sahara, which is located in the southern part of Tripoli, Libya, the highest temperature recorded here was 57.7 °C in 1922. You will be surprised to know that today's Sahara Desert was once a completely green plain. It is known from the pictures obtained from the caves of Sahara that rivers and crocodiles were found here. Elephants, lions, giraffes, ostriches, sheep, cattle and goats were common animals. But the climate change here has turned it into a very hot and dry region.
Flora and Fauna-
The flora of the Sahara Desert consists of cactus, palm trees and acacias. Here in some places desert - green islands surrounded by palm trees are found. Camel, hyena, jackal, fox, scorpion, various species of snakes and lizards are the main fauna here.
These include Bedouin and Tuareg. These people from the nomadic tribes keep livestock like goats, sheep, camels and horses. From these animals these people get milk, from their skin they get leather for making boxes, shoes, water bottles and animal hair is used to make mats, carpets, clothes and blankets. These people wear heavy clothes to avoid dust storms and hot air. The desert in the Sahara and the Nile Valley in Egypt help people live. Due to the availability of water here, people grow palm trees. Crops like rice, wheat, barley and beans are also grown here. The cotton grown in Egypt is famous all over the world. The discovery of oil is in great demand all over the world, with this product in Algeria, Libya and Egypt, the Sahara desert is changing rapidly. Other important minerals found in this area include iron, phosphorous, manganese and uranium.
Cold Desert -
Ladakh, one of the coldest places on earth 'Dras', is located in Ladakh Ladakh is a cold desert located in the Greater Himalayas to the east of Jammu and Kashmir. In the north lies the Karakoram mountain ranges and in the south lies the Zaskar Mountains. Many rivers flow through Ladakh, of which the Indus River is the main one. These rivers form deep valleys and gorges. There are many glaciers in Ladakh such as Gangri glacier. The altitude of Ladakh ranges from about 3000 meters in Kargil to more than 8000 meters in Karakoram. Due to the high altitude, the climate here is very cold and dry. At this height, the air layer would have been thinner, due to which the extreme intensity of the sun's heat is felt. In summer the day temperature is only slightly above 0 °C and at night the temperature goes down to minus -30 °C. It gets icy cold in winter, with the temperature staying below -40°C almost all the time. Since it is located in the rain-shadow region of the Himalayas, it receives very little rainfall, hardly 10 cm per year.
