8 stunning deserts that will blow the mind of any traveler.
Sand, sun, rocks, and heat – that's what comes to mind when you think of deserts. But there are many deserts around the world that can leave you stunned by their breathtaking beauty.
1. Salar de Uyuni Desert, Bolivia
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The world's largest salt desert, Salar de Uyuni, is located in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia. Formed from a dried-up prehistoric salt lake, it covers an area of 10,583 square kilometers, completely covered in white salt and a thin layer of water during the rainy season. This layer creates a mirror effect across the desert's surface, leading many to call the lake the world's largest giant mirror.
2. Sahara Desert, Africa
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The Sahara Desert covers an area of over 9.3 million square kilometers, making it the world's largest hot desert. Located in North Africa, the desert is primarily rocky plateaus, but the sea of sand will blow your mind with its fierce beauty. Some sand dunes reach heights of nearly 200 meters.
3. The Mojave Desert, part of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
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Located primarily in California and Nevada, but also branching off in Utah and Arizona, the Mojave Desert covers an area of over 64,000 square kilometers and is the driest desert in North America. The Mojave has very little vegetation, but is famous for the Joshua tree, a species found nowhere else in the world. The Joshua tree thrives in the harsh, rocky landscape.
4. Namib Desert, Namibia
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Located in southern Africa, the Namib Desert stretches 1,930 km and is considered the oldest desert in the world. It is famous for its pink and orange sand dunes, reaching heights of up to 300 meters, making them the largest sand dunes on the planet.
5. Wave Desert, Arizona, USA
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The stunning sandstone formations make Wave a dream destination for many photographers. Located in the northern part of Coyote Buttes in Arizona, between Paria Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, the intersecting zones of Wave create mesmerizing undulating patterns.
6. The White Desert, Egypt
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Also known as el-Sahara el-Beida, the White Desert is a national park in Egypt, located a few hours' drive from Cairo.
The desert looks like a completely different planet thanks to its chalky landscape and calcium carbonate rock formations created by sand erosion. At midday, they gleam white. At sunset, they transform into a captivating golden hue.
7. White Sands Desert, New Mexico
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A stunning sea of snow-white gypsum sand dunes awaits you at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Located north of the Chihuahuan Desert, the White Sands Desert spans 700 square kilometers and is the world's largest gypsum surface, a result of the sea receding millions of years ago. Thanks to its mineral composition, the sand here is not as hot as people imagine deserts to be. In fact, it's quite cool.
8. Polar tundra, Canada, Alaska, Russia, Siberia, Scandanavia
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Although formed from ice, it is still considered a desert due to the low annual rainfall. The area still has some plants that can grow by rooting themselves in the permafrost. A thin layer of ice melts in the summer, providing moisture for the plants to germinate.
