Top Most Famous Deserts in The World You Should Explore
Deserts are some of the most stunning landscapes in the world. The arid land is often uninhabited but possesses a stark beauty. Deserts can be hot or cold, and cover almost one-third of the Earth’s surface area. There are many important and famous deserts around the world. If you are lucky enough to visit them all you will be exposed to the most varied landscapes and their vast beauty. So, take a look at this list of famous deserts in the world worth visiting.
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The Gobi Desert, Mongolia
The word Gobi means “desert” in Mongolian. This famed desert spans across China and Mongolia and forms as an integral part of the historic Silk Road which facilitated travel and business in the past. One of the popular deserts in Asia, this desert is not a sandy one but bare rock. Unlike many of the world’s deserts, this is a cold desert that even sees snow and frost occasionally on the dunes. This desert might come across as bleak, vast and silent but then this isolation has its own charm that cannot be compared to any other natural beauty in the world. Colossal sand dunes, ice-filled canyons, dinosaur fossils and the camel treks will make up your itinerary if you visit it.
Arctic Desert: A Terrestrial Ecoregion
This large cold desert occupies parts of Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. It is known for its high winds and sub-zero temperatures and is particularly vulnerable to climate change. It covers an area of 161,400 square kilometres and is amongst the largest deserts of the world. It contains glaciers, snow, and bare rock in a harshly cold environment.
How to reach this desert:
Geographically closer to the North Pole, Svalbard in Norway is one of the best places to see the arctic desert. You can fly via Oslo to Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen. There is no regular boat or ferry service to Svalbard from anywhere.
Animal habitat:
The largest colonies of Ivory gull are found in the region, as well as Atlantic walrus, Polar bear, arctic wolf, whale and arctic hare.
Gobi Desert
Set in the dry, rain shadow of the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert lies in north-western China and southern Mongolia. One of the largest deserts in Asia, it is home to various famous cities of the old Silk Road as well as many important fossils. This east Asian desert covers an area of 1,295,000 square kilometres and is known as the largest dinosaur fossil reservoir in the world.
How to reach this desert:
The easiest way is to reach the desert is through Mongolia. Fly to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital and then, take a domestic flight from there to Dalanzadgad. From the airport there, you can book a car rental for the entirety of your trip into the desert.
Animal habitat:
Gobi desert has the snow leopard, black-tailed gazelle, Gobi viper, jerboa, Gobi bear, Gobi ibex, wild Bactrian camel, and more animal species.
Atacama Desert, Chile
The Atacama Desert is considered to be the driest place on Earth because it receives only about 0.0004 inches of rainfall each year. This famous desert spans over 41,000 miles and is located more than 8,000 feet above sea level. However, do you know that this vast landscape offers as an excellent place to view the constellations and try your hand at some star photography because of the clear skies and lack of light pollution. This desert is populated by weird shaped snow and ice formations that exist in the high altitude regions and appear to visitors as an ice forest in the middle of a barren wilderness with very little vegetation able to survive nearby.
Mojave Desert, Nevada, USA
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of Southern California and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Named after the Mohave Native Americans it occupies roughly 54,000 square miles in a typical Basin and Range topography. The Mojave, like all deserts in general, is known for its summer heat, however, it also receives significant winter cold as well. The Mojave Desert contains a number of ghost towns, the best popular of them being the silver-mining town of Calico, California. This desert is also known to contain Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America. For U.S. travelers, this is an accessible travel destination that feels surreal and completely out of this world. As this desert is in close proximity to Las Vegas, it is one of the most popular travel destinations in the country.
