NCERT Summary: Deserts | Geography for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Deserts

The Hot Desert - Sahara

• Sahara is the world’s largest desert.
• It has an area of around 8.54 million sq. k m.
• The Sahara desert touches eleven countries.
  → These are Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan , Tunisia and Western Sahara.
• Sahara desert is covered with, there are also gravel plains and elevated plateaus with bare rocky surface which may be more than 2500m high at some places.

Climate

• The climate of the Sahara desert is extremely hot and dry.
• It has a short rainy season.
• Days are unbelievably hot.
• The temperatures during the day may rise as high as 50°C, heating u p the sand and the bare rocks, which in turn radiates heat making everything around hot.
• The nights may be freezing cold with temperatures nearing zero degrees.

Flora and Fauna

• The vegetation includes cactus, date palms and acacia.
• In some places, there are oasis – green islands with date palms surrounding them.
• Camels, hyenas, jackals, foxes, scorpions, many varieties of snakes and lizards are the prominent animal species here.

Flora and Fauna

• Due to high aridity, the vegetation is sparse.
  → There are thin patches of grasses and shrubs for animals to graze.
• During the summers, fruit trees such as apples, apricots and walnuts grow.
• Robins, redstarts, Tibetan snowcock, raven and hoopoe are common species of birds seen in Ladakh.
• The animals of Ladakh are wild goats, wild sheep, yak and special kinds of dogs 
• The animals are reared to provide for the milk, meat and hides.

• In the summer season, the people cultivate barley, potatoes, peas, beans and turnip. 
• The winter months are very harsh, people keep themselves engaged in festivities and ceremonies.
• The women are very hard working.
  → They work not only in the house and fields, but also manages mall business and shops.
• Leh, the capital of Ladakh is well connected both by road and air.
  → The National Highway 1A connects Leh to Kashmir Valley through the Zoji la Pass.
• Tourism is a major activity with several tourists streaming in from within India and abroad.