Life In The Desert

It is an arid region characterized by extremely high or low temperatures and has less vegetation.

The hot desert are found mainly on the western margins of the continent between latitudes 15 to 30 degree both north and south of the equator.

Countries are- Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara.

Vegetation in Sahara desert includes cactus, date, palms and acacia. In some place there are oasis, green islands with date palms surrounding them. Camels, hyenas, jackal, foxes, scorpions, Snakes and lizards are the prominent species.

Every year about 1, 22,000 sq.kms of agricultural land is made worthless. This process is called desertification.

Ladakh is cold desert lying in the great Himalayas on the eastern side of Jammu and Kashmir. The Karakoram Range in the north and the Zaskar Mountain in the south enclose it.

Due to high altitude the climate is extremely cold and dry. The day temperature in summer is just above zero degree and night temperature well below – 30 degree.

Meadows and glacier mainly attracts tourist to Laddakh.

In Laddakh, due to high aridity the vegetation is sparse. There are scanty patches of grasses and shrubs for animals to graze. Grove of willows and poplars are seen in the valleys.

The famous monasteries of the Laddakh are Hemis, Thiksey, Shey and Lamayuru.