8 beautiful deserts that blow the mind of any traveler
Sand, sun, rocks and heat - that's what comes to mind when you think of a desert. But there are plenty of deserts around the world that can take your breath away with 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, the 10,583 square kilometer (4,200 square mile) site is 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 more than 9.3 million square kilometers, making it the largest hot desert in the world. Located in North Africa, the desert is mostly rocky plateaus, but the sand seas will blow your mind with their stark beauty. Some of the dunes are nearly 200 meters high.
3. Mojave Desert, parts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona
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Located mainly in California and Nevada, but also branching off into Utah and Arizona, the Mojave Desert covers more than 25,000 square miles and is the driest desert in North America. The Mojave has very little vegetation, but is famous for its Joshua trees, which grow nowhere else in the world. The Joshua trees grow firmly on the harsh rocky landscape.
4. Namib Desert, Namibia
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A coastal desert in southern Africa, the Namib stretches for 1,930km and is considered the world's oldest desert. It is famous for its pink and orange sand dunes, which rise up to 300 metres high, making them the largest sand dunes on the planet.
5. Wave Desert, Arizona, USA
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The stunning sandstone formation makes The Wave a photographer's dream destination. Located in the northern part of Arizona's Coyote Buttes, between Paria Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, the Wave's intersecting layers create mesmerizing undulating patterns.
6. White Desert, Egypt
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Also known as el-Sahara el-Beida, the White Desert is an Egyptian national park located a few hours drive from Cairo.
The desert looks like a completely different planet thanks to its chalky landscape and limestone formations created by sand erosion. At midday, they glow white. At sunset, they turn a captivating gold.
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 in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, the White Sands Desert covers 700 square kilometers and is the largest gypsum surface in the world, a result of a shallow sea millions of years ago. Thanks to its mineral composition, the sand here is not as hot as people imagine a desert to be. In fact, it is quite cool.
8. Polar tundra, Canada, Alaska, Russia, Siberia, Scandanavia
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Although it is made up of ice, it is still considered a desert due to its low annual rainfall. Some plants can still grow in this area, which is rooted in the permafrost. A thin layer of ice melts in the summer, providing moisture for plants to germinate.