Desert – An arid region characterized by extremely high or low temperatures, low rainfall and scarce vegetation are called desert.
Water supports life, giving our earth the name ‘living planet’.
It is very difficult to live in a place where there is no water to drink, no grass to feed the cattle and no water for the growth of grass.
Hence the need to conserve water cannot be overemphasized.
It is a wonder that people who live in the deserts have learnt to have come up with extremely harsh climates.
Desert is either as hot as fire or as cold as ice.
Hence, depending on the temperature, we can find hot deserts or cold deserts.
People inhabit these lands wherever little water is available to practice agriculture.
THE HOT DESERT: SAHARA – The Sahara desert covers a large part of North Africa.
It has the following features:
It is the world’s largest desert.
It covers an area of around 8.54 million square kilometres (which is more than the total area of India!!).
It touches eleven countries which are as follows: Algeria, Morocco, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara.
Besides being covered with vast stretches of sand, it has gravel plains and elevated plateaus with bare rocky surface.
These rocky surfaces, at some places are more than 2500 m high.
Climate:
This heats up the sand and the bare rocks; which in turn heat up their surroundings.
The nights may be freezing cold with temperatures nearing zero degrees Celsius°.
The climate of the Sahara desert is scorching hot and parch dry.
It has a short rainy season.
Since the sky is cloudless and clear, the rate of water evaporation is greater than the rate of water accumulation.
Hence there is water scarcity. The temperatures are as high as 50
Flora and Fauna:
Flora: Vegetation in the Sahara desert includes cactus, date palms and acacia. We can find oasis in some places.
Fauna: The animal species found here are camels, hyenas, jackals, foxes, scorpions and many varieties of snakes and lizards.
People:
The Sahara desert has been inhabited by different groups of people who are engaged in different activities.
Among them are the Bedouins and the Tuaregs.
These groups are nomadic tribes.
They wear heavy robes to protect them from the harsh climate i.e. dust storms and hot winds. The tribes are engaged in animal rearing.
Animals such as sheep, goats, camels and horses are reared for the following purposes:
Milk
Hides: These are used to make leather for belts, slippers and water bottles.
Hair: This is used to make mats, carpets, clothes and blankets.
Growing date palms and agriculture:
The oasis in the Sahara and Nile valley in Egypt supports settled population.
Since water is available, people grow date palms.
Other crops that are grown include rice, wheat barley and beans.
Egyptian cotton that is famous worldwide is grown in Egypt.
Oasis – A fertile spot in a desert, where water is found is called oasis.
In the depressions (which are formed when the wind blows away the sands) where underground water reaches the surface; oasis is formed.
These areas are fertile.
People may settle around these water bodies.
People may grow date palms and other crops.
Sometimes the oasis may be abnormally large.
Changes in the desert:
The discovery of oil is constantly transforming the Sahara desert.
The discovery of oil has been made in Algeria, Libya and Egypt.
Other important minerals found in this area include iron, phosphorus, manganese and uranium.
The changes due to business development and infrastructural development are also seen in this area.
Gleaming glass cased office buildings tower over mosques and superhighways crisscross the ancient camel paths. Trucks are replacing camels in salt trade.
Tuaregs are seen acting as guides to foreign tourists.
Many nomadic tribes are finding jobs in the field of oil and gas operations, and migrating to cities.
COLD ESERT: LADAKH DESERT:
Ladakh is made up of two words – La meaning mountain pass and Dak meaning country.
Ladakh is a cold desert in India, lying in the Great Himalayas, on the eastern side of Jammu and Kashmir.
It is enclosed in the north by the Karakoram Range and in the south by the Zanskar mountains.
Several rivers flow through Ladakh.
The most important river is the Indus.
The rivers form deep valleys and gorges.
Several glaciers are found in Ladakh. The Gangri glacier is an example.
The altitude in Ladakh varies from about 3000m in Kargil to more than 8000 m in the Karakoram.
Climate:
Due to the high altitude, it is freezing cold and dry in Ladakh.
The air is so thin that the sun’s heat can be felt intensely.
In summers the temperature during the day is just above zero degree and the night temperature is much below -30 degree.
In winters the temperature remains as low as -40 degrees most of the time.
The rainfall in this region is low. It is as low as 10 cm annually.
This is because it lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas.
The area experiences freezing winds and burning sunlight.
Consequently, if someone sits in the sun with his hand in the shade; he will experience sunstroke as well as frost bite at the same time.
Flora and Fauna
Flora:
Because of extreme dryness, the vegetation is sparse.
There are scanty patches of grasses and shrubs for animals to graze.
The valleys have groves of willows and poplars.
During summer season, trees of fruits such as apples, apricots and walnuts bloom.
Fauna:
Several species of birds such as robins, redstars, Tibetan snowcock, raven and hoopoe are common. Some of these are migratory birds.
The animals include wild goats, wild sheep, yak and special kinds of dogs.
The animals are reared to provide: Milk: Yak’s milk is used to make cheese and butter, Meat, Hide, Hair: The hair on the sheep and goats is used to make woollens.
People:
The people here are either Muslims or Buddhists.
Many Buddhist monasteries dot the Ladakh landscape with their traditional ‘gompas’.
Some of the famous monasteries are Hemis, Thiksey, Shey and Lamayuru.
The people of this region resemble the people of Tibet and Central Asia.
Cultivation Activity:
In the summer people are busy cultivating barley, potato, beans, peas and turnip.
In the winter months, due to the harsh climate, people keep themselves engaged in festivities and ceremonies. The women are very hard-working.
Business:
The women in this region mange small business and shops; in addition to working in the house and fields.
Infrastructure:
Leh, the capital of Ladakh is well connected by road as well as air.
The National Highway 1A connects Leh to Kashmir Valley through the Zoji la Pass.
Tourism:
This is a major tourist attraction for tourists across the globe.
The tourists visit the gompas, do trekking to see the meadows and glaciers and witness the ceremonies and festivities.
Changes in Area:
Due to modernization, the life of the people is undergoing a change.
The people of Ladakh have over centuries learnt to live in harmony with nature.
Due to the scarcity of resources, they understand their value and conserve them.
They do not waste the resources and use them very judiciously.
The Manali-Leh highway crosses four passes which are:
Baralacha la, Rohtang la,
Lungalacha la and
Tanglang la.
The highway opens only between July and September when snow is cleared from the road.
