Africa travel. Sand dune climbing at sunrise, Sahara Desert, Algeria

This name originated thanks to a group of small islands in front of the entrance to the capital's port, which gave its name not only to the capital, but to the whole country. Most of the territory of Algeria, almost 80%, is occupied by the Sahara, the great African desert. In the north, the country is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean. On land, it borders in the east with Tunisia and Libya, with Mali and Niger in the south, and with Mauritania and Morocco in the west.

The Sahara is called its homeland by numerous tribes of North African Berbers. Free nomad men, Berbers generously share their customs and culture with the brave men who ventured to go on an exciting journey to Algeria - the very heart of the planet's greatest desert. It is best to go on excursions to the Sahara and the ancient cities of Algeria in the first half of spring or in the middle of autumn.

Algeria is a very ancient country, rich in cultural, historical, natural and architectural landmarks. The main places that tourists should visit are: the Atlas Mountains, Timgad, Jami-al-Jadid Mosque, Kasbah (old town), Tassili n'Ajjer national park, Beni Hammad Fort (ancient city), Belezma National Park, Royal Mausoleum of Mauritania, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Antiquity.

Traces of ancient glaciers have been found in Africa. Can you believe that once upon a time, huge glaciers floated through the lands of Africa? If we take into account that throughout the long history the continents changed their location greatly, this could well be. Geologists already have strong evidence - in the desert country of Namibia, hills of a special shape were found, which usually occur in places where glaciers once moved quickly. This discovery allows you to take a fresh look at the history of the Earth.

In 1933, Leo Frobenius, the famous German explorer of Africa, during one of his expeditions, found in Libya, on the rocks of Fezzan in the heart of the waterless Sahara desert, images of bulls, elephants, ostriches, lions, antelopes, goats, rhinos and even hippos. For 60 km along both sides of the dried riverbed of the ancient river (wadi), relief paintings painted in red ocher or white clay stretched across the dark orange cracked rocks.

The age of the images was not exactly known, but everything told the scientist that the Sahara was not always a lifeless territory. A truly endless sea of sand, stone and clay, with only rare green spots of oases and a single river, is the present-day Sahara desert. Its territory is eight million square kilometers. This is more than Australia and slightly less than Brazil.

Five thousand kilometers of heat and sand, from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Red Sea. But in the Paleolithic period, i.e. 10-12 thousand years ago, when a man first appeared in North Africa, the climate here was much more humid. The Sahara was not a desert, but an African steppe-savannah. Crocodiles lived in the rivers that flowed in place of the current wadis. The last representatives of these reptiles live now in one small reservoir in Hoggar on the edge of the desert. In many areas of the Sahara there were ancient cities that are now buried by a layer of sand.

The local African population for several centuries adheres to its traditions, rules of life, culture, which have survived on the continent to this day. Africans to this day exist thanks to hunting, fishing and gathering, without experiencing the great need for civilized objects of the modern world. This does not mean that they do not know about all the achievements of the latest developments, they can simply do without all the benefits of civilization, without contacting anyone around, leading a solitary lifestyle.

The fact that global warming can cause the death of all mankind has been known for a long time. Unfortunately, many people do not realize the seriousness of this problem, since climate change is so slow that it is almost impossible to notice it without comparing the temperature indicators of different years. Recently, several scientific organizations immediately shared sobering statistics - it turned out that over the past 100 years, the average temperature of the Earth has risen markedly, and the last five years have stood out as the hottest in modern history. Temperature records belong to Europe, New Zealand and even Russia. An increase in temperature, of course, can also be observed on the surface of the water - records are seen in the South Pacific and the Atlantic. In addition to becoming hotter on the planet, the level of the World Ocean rises on it, as well as an increase in the acidity of waters and the melting of glaciers.

One of the projects that are already being implemented under the guidance of scientists in some countries has been the creation of green walls on large areas of the planet. They consist of native vegetation and land on the edge of deserts to stop the desertification of the surrounding territories. The fact is that land on the edge of deserts is already subject to drought and overloaded by the communities living there, which creates a vicious circle and makes residents fight for survival. Green walls and supporting conditions are designed to rejuvenate the earth, making large areas of the planet more liveable.

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