Ask Me Everything8

How to: get on a camel

■ Sit firmly and stay calm—the camel will know if you are nervous.

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m Make surę that the camel is sitting down and approach it from the left.

■ Put your left foot in the stirrup and throw your right leg over the saddle.

■ Hołd the reins and lean back as the camel lurches to its feet.

■ Keep a tight hołd of the reins and prepare for a bumpy ride!

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The Tree of Tenere, once a well-known landmark in the Sahara, was an acacia tree that grew entirely on its own in a corner of northwest Niger. In 1973, a truck driver demolished the solitary tree. It has now been replaced by a metal sculpture.

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The growing desert

• The Sahara is advancing south at an estimated ratę of 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km) per year, through a process known as desertification.

• Causes of desertification include overgrazing, poor soil management, and global climate change.

• Desertification swallows up farmland, threatening millions with starvation.

• One proposal is to grow a 4,340-mile (7,000-km) wali of acacia trees to hołd back the desert.

Desert nomads

■ The Tuareg are a nomadic people who controlled trade routes across the Sahara for morę than 2,000 years.

■ They moved their herds from place to place in the desert, living in temporary tented settlements.

■ Tuareg men wear veils to protect their faces from dust and sand.

■ Many Tuareg have now abandoned the nomadic way of life to settle as farmers in towns and villages.

F!ve camel facts

01: Camels were introduced to the Sahara from Asia around 2,000 years ago.

02: They can last for up to seven days without food or water by storing fat in their humps.

03: Their large, fiat, round feet keep them from sinking into soft sand.

04: A large camel can drink 21 gallons (80 liters) of water in ten minutes.

05: Camels can carry up 990 lb (450 kg) in weight.

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Great Basin Desert (U.S.A.)

190,000 sq miles (492,000 sq km)

Great Sandy Desert (Australia): 175,000 sq miles (450,000 sq km)

Great Victoria Desert (Australia) 150,000 sq miles (338,500 sq km)

Kalahari Desert (Southern Africa) 100,000 sq miles (260,000 sq km)

Syrian Desert (Middle East)

100,000 sq miles (260,000 sq km)

Sahara

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