Welcome to the Sahara Desert

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, stretching across 11 African countries and covering approximately 9.2 million square kilometers — roughly the size of the United States or China. But the Sahara is far more than just sand.

Only about 25% of the Sahara is covered in sand dunes. The rest is a dramatic landscape of rocky plateaus called hamadas, gravel plains called regs, dry valleys called wadis, and even mountains — the Ahaggar Mountains reach 3,003 meters high.

Perhaps most astonishing of all: the Sahara was green and lush just 5,000 to 11,000 years ago. Rock art in Algeria and Libya depicts hippos, crocodiles, and cattle herders roaming a land of lakes and rivers. Let's explore this incredible place.