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Lakes of Ounianga in the Sahara Desert

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Lakes of Ounianga are a series of  18 lakes in the Sahara Desert, in North-Eastern Chad, occupying a basin in the mountains of West Tibesti and Ennedi East. The names of the lake groups are derived from the name of a village nearby. It was added as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012, the lakes are in a hot and hyper-arid desert that features a rainfall of less than 2 millimeters a year. The lakes are situated in a shallow basin below sandstone cliffs and hills, from where the ancient water flows.  Remarkably, this unique hydro-logical system is able to sustain the largest permanent freshwater lakes to be found in such an arid desert environment anywhere in the world. The lakes are remnants of a single large lake, probably tens of kilometers long, that once occupied this remote area approximately 14,800 to 5,500 years ago. As the climate dried out during the subsequent millennia, the lake shrank, and large, wind-driven sand dunes invaded the original depression, dividing...

Beautiful Ubari Lakes oasis in the Sahara desert

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Ubari Lakes in the Libyan part of the Sahara desert on the right are among the most beautiful oasis in the world. The largest of these is Lake Umm Al-Maa, which means "Mother of Waters." The water in it is very salty - concentration can be compared with the water of the Dead Sea. Uniqueness lake also consists in the fact that the lower layers is always very hot water, the temperature sometimes reaches to 100 degrees, and wherein the upper layers are cold. Ubari Lakes - a group of about 20 lakes of the landscape of high dunes and palm trees. To achieve these lakes, tourists usually go to Tkerkiba where excellent camping functions to explore the lake. Depth of the lakes, according to the Libyan Central diving varies from seven meters deep (as in Gabrun) up to 32 meters deep (Ain al-Dibbanah about Ghadames). Some of these lakes are drying up due to drought slowly and artificial drainage. Among the most picturesque lakes Gaberun and Umm al-Maa. Also there are two more beautif...