8 Deserts That Look Nothing Like a Desert
Deserts are defined by dryness, not sand. Explore eight deserts that look nothing like a desert, from Egypt's White Desert to Antarctica and Brazil's dune lagoons.
Deserts: How They Form & Where to See Them
Defined by water they do not have — which is why so few of them look like sand.
A desert is defined by precipitation, not by appearance or temperature. Anything receiving under 250 mm a year qualifies, which is why Antarctica, the driest place on earth, is technically a polar desert and covers more desert area than the Sahara. Sand dunes — the image everyone has — cover only about a fifth of the world's desert area. The rest is rock, gravel, salt pan, ice, and in some cases, briefly, flowers.
How deserts form
The mechanism, without the jargon.
- 01Subtropical high pressure zones around 30° latitude produce sinking, drying air — the origin of most hot deserts.
- 02Rain shadow deserts form where a mountain range strips moisture from incoming air before it crosses.
- 03Coastal deserts appear where cold offshore currents cool the air and stop it from holding moisture, as in the Atacama and Namib.
- 04Polar deserts exist because cold air holds almost no water vapour at all, regardless of how much ice is present.
Best time to see them
Shoulder seasons wherever you go. In hot deserts that means spring and autumn; in cold deserts like the Gobi, it means summer, because winter routinely drops below −30 °C. Night-time temperature swings of 25 °C or more are normal in dry air, at any latitude.
How to get there
Distances are the defining logistics. Fuel, water and phone signal all disappear at the same time, and the nearest help is often measured in hundreds of kilometres. Drive with two spare tyres, carry far more water than you think you need, and never leave a vehicle if it breaks down.
Tickets, permits & fees
Large desert national parks charge entry or conservation fees; many desert regions have no ticketing at all. Guided expeditions are the standard product and are generally worth the cost for a first visit.
Notable deserts
Five worth building a trip around.
-
Atacama
Chile
The driest non-polar desert on earth. Some weather stations have never recorded rainfall, and the soil chemistry is used to calibrate Mars rovers.
April–October Guide -
The Sahara
North Africa
The largest hot desert, roughly the size of the United States, with ergs of 180 m dunes and mountain ranges that are colder than the lowlands.
November–March Guide -
Danakil Depression
Ethiopia
One of the hottest and lowest places on earth, with acid ponds, salt flats and sulphur springs that look actively hostile to life.
November–February -
Lençóis Maranhenses
Brazil
Sand dunes filled with thousands of clear rainwater lagoons between January and June — technically not a desert at all by rainfall.
May–June -
Wadi Rum
Jordan
Red sandstone towers and natural arches rising straight out of the sand, inhabited and crossed by Bedouin guides for centuries.
March–May, September–November
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