The Viral Sahara Desert In Tiktok, Here Are Facts About The World's Largest Desert

Sahara Desert Illustration (Mostafa Ft Shots/Pexels)

JAKARTA - The name of the Sahara Desert suddenly went viral on TikTok and even entered the number one trending topic on the Google search engine. As it turns out, the TikTok video shows a Google Maps search for “Sahara Desert” will result in an adult photo upload of Kevin's Bending. There is no information regarding Kevin's identity or the reason why the photo was uploaded on Google Maps of the Sahara Desert. The photo uploaded on August 5 has now been removed from Google Maps.

Despite the viral news with indecent rumors, the Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world. And the third largest uninhabited landmass after Antarctica and the Arctic. The word Sahara comes from the Arabic aḥrā which means desert. The Sahara Desert that went viral on TikTok is located in North Africa. The area is about 9,200,000 square kilometers, comparable to the land area of China and the United States.

In addition, launching the Global Adventure Challenges, Monday, August 8, the Sahara is also the hottest desert in the world with an unpleasant climate. The average annual temperature is 30 degrees Celsius. The hottest temperature ever recorded was 58 degrees Celsius.

Sahara Desert (Il Vagabiondo/Unsplash)

The Sahara Desert tends to have a little rainfall. Half of the Sahara Desert region receives less than 1 inch of rain every year. Many consider the temperature in the Sahara hot all day long. In fact, the temperature drops drastically at night due to lack of humidity to the lowest point of -6 degrees Celsius.

You will not only find sand in the Sahara Desert. Most of the prairie consists of barren rocky plateaus, as well as salt flats, dunes, mountains, and dry valleys. The rivers and streams found in the Sahara are all seasonal, apart from the Nile. There are more than 20 lakes in the Sahara, most of which are saltwater lakes. Lake Chad is the only freshwater lake in the desert.

The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3,415m), a volcano located in the Tibesti Mountains, Chad. Other mountains in the area include the Aïr Mountains, Sahara Atlas, Adrar des Iforas, Hoggar Mountains, Tibesti Mountains, and the hills of the Red Sea.

In the Sahara Desert there are several towering sand dunes. In east-central Algeria lies the Souane-n-Tifernine Sand Sea, with 450m high dunes. The largest sand dune in Morocco is Erg Chigaga with some dunes reaching up to 300m large. Chigaga sand dunes are difficult to reach. You can only explore it by camel ride or on foot. These dunes are a relatively untouched part of the Sahara.

The population around the Sahara desert is only about two million inhabitants The people who live in the Sahara are mostly nomads. Which moves from one place to another depending on the season. Meanwhile, residents still live in groups near water sources.