Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple. In the clear air, the stars drilled down out of the sky, reminding any thoughtful watcher that it is in the deserts and high places that religions are generated. When men see nothing but bottomless infinity over their heads they have always had a driving and desperate urge to find someone to put in the way. Terry Pratchett, Jingo
The Thar desert in the north-west of India is the largest desert in the country. It is as large as Britain. India: Nature's Wonderland II, BBC 2015
The Kalahari basin: two and half million square kilometres of flat sand and scrub – this desert stretches across southern Africa. But at its heart lies a river – a river that never reaches the sea. And once a year it floods. For over five months water is spread across a vast area of the Kalahari. Earth’s Greatest Spectacles: Okavango, BBC 2016
El Alamein was Britain’s first major land victory of the Second World War. The desert battles which took place in 1942 were some of the bloodiest of the North African campaign. El Alamein: The Soldier’s Story, Yesterday 2013
The Sahara – the deadliest of deserts. It spans 11 countries, a vast area of more than 3 million square miles. It can reach staggering temperatures of 50 degrees plus. Alice Morrison, Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure II, BBC 2017
For the traders of old it was a 50-day journey across the seemingly endless sands of the Sahara all the way to Timbuktu. ibid.
To this day slavery has never been officially abolished in Morocco. ibid.
This is the Namib desert in south-west Africa. Namib means vast … It’s the harshest place in the world for elephants to live … The herd is recovering; two young calves have just been born. Natural World s25e3: Elephant Nomads of the Namib Desert, BBC 2007
The big male leads a separate, solitary life. ibid.
Africa: where the human race began. Nearly a billion people live here. It’s a continent with an incredible diversity of communities and cultures. Yet we know less of its history than almost anywhere else on Earth. Gus Casely-Hayford, Lost Kingdoms of Africa s1e1: Nubia, BBC 2010
The far north of the continent in what is now known as Sudan. I’m looking for the legendary kingdom of Nubia. Nubia is the traditional name for the northern part of Sudan near the Egyptian border. For thousands of years a civilisation dominated the area there in what’s now eastern Sahara … A source of slaves and treasure, dancing girls and wrestlers … These people were conquerors in their own right. ibid.
There are more pyramids here than there are in Egypt. ibid.
Water was the key to this Nubian kingdom. ibid.
They [Egyptians] clearly regarded them as inferior. ibid.
They’d even developed writing. ibid.
The desert continued its relentless incursion. ibid.
1352 the Sahara: the largest desert on the planet … Ibn Battuta: He left Morocco at age 21 vowing never to travel the same road twice. He has explored over 40 countries but this is his first time in the Sahara … The plague raging through Asia, Europe and the Middle East; it’s killed up to a fifth of the world’s population … but the Sahara is a barrier against the Pandemic. Mankind: The Story of All of Us VI: Survivors, History 2012
On Kitchener’s desert train had come machine guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. At Omdurman near Khartoum the stage was set for one of the bloodiest battles in the history of empire. Jeremy Paxman, Empire III: Playing the Game, BBC 2012
November 1942: An armada of 200 British and American ships appears off the coast of north Africa. Operation Torch is about to begin. Right before the eyes of the local people, 100,000 men pour on to the beaches of Morocco and Algeria. It is this singular theatre, north Africa, that between 1940 and 1943 was written a famous chapter of the Second World War, the Desert War. Hitler’s Disastrous Desert War, National Geographic 2022
The Desert War, the war that nobody wanted, was to turn the World War upside down. ibid.
Rommel is waging an overly ambitious war without a care for one decisive element: fuel and supplies. ibid.
Mojave desert: ‘A lot of us have been out here for multiple years. Kind of gotten used to it. The summers out here are brutal and the winters are unforgiving.’ Living Homeless in the Desert, Youtube short 15.18, Vice TV 2022
About 40 miles north of Los Angeles is the town of Lancaster … You see encampments in pretty much every direction … Hundreds of people without homes living in this part of the Mojave desert. ibid.
More than half of all unsheltered people in the US live in California. ibid.
I’m travelling through the Kalahari desert, a huge area of wilderness that stretches across southern Africa. It’s one of the wildest places on Earth. Wilderness with Simon Reeve IV
Despite the harsh terrain, the Kalahari is bursting with life … The Kalahari is a semi-desert. ibid.
But the Lord will protect you. We are all folded in his mighty wings. Play for Today: Desert of Lies, London Missionary Society, BBC 1984
South Africa: Children shouldn’t see what you’re seeing in this country: babies blind with disease, men yoked by the neck as slaves. ibid. missionary lady
I lost my faith, Esther, run into the sands of this filthy place. ibid. drunken uncle
Local #1: Who are these idiots?
Local #2: Some kind of foreign white.
Local #1: What are they doing?
Local #2: Trying to cross the desert.
Local #1: Why?
Local #2: Because they’re idiots. ibid.
Chile is home to Earth’s oldest and most mysterious desert. It has ancient traditions of visitors from the sky. And it is considered a hotbed of modern UFO reports. Ancient Aliens s15e3: Destination Chile
Microbiology: Atacama Desert microbes may be clues to life on Mars. EurekAlert! online article 22nd August 2022
‘We have figures that have been carved into the desert similar to what we see at Nazca in Peru.’ ibid. David Childress
Home to almost five times as many geoglyphs as Nazca. ibid.
The Atacama Giant measures 390 feet. ibid.