From the EYE of the Desert, to the most unique glass fragments from nowhere, these are 12 STRANGE Things Found in the Sahara Desert ! Subscribe to American Eye http://goo.gl/GBphkv 7. Gerboise Bleue Test Site France became the fourth nuclear powered nation after the USA, USSR and Great Britain. They were eager to test out their destruction device and decided to launch their first test in the Algerian Saharan Desert in 1960’s, with a bomb called the Gerboise bleue, near the Berber county of Reggane. We found the coordinates of the launch testing site and as we took a closer look to try to see the crater google earth, something appears to be cut and pasted of the area where it took place You can still see some of the discoloration of the sand from the original black and white photo that you see here.It you get somewhere close to the testing site by foot, you might come across a sighn like this, warning those who dare venture any further. The huge cloud of sand that was released from the atom bomb apparently spread radioactivity into neighboring countries and even into the south of France. Could the extreme heat from the blast, have created something similar to the Libyan desert glass? 6. Ghadames Located a few hundred miles from mediterranean sea, Ghadames is nicknamed, the pearl of the desert because of its pearl white apartment buildings.It was basically an abandoned city in the Sahara Desert for a long period of time when its source of water dried up. Located in the country of Libya. Ghadames was recently listed as a world heritage site and its origins date back to the 4th millennium BC. After miles and miles of endless desert, people must be thinking they’re seeing a mirage when they come across the revived date orchards. The Romans used it to stor e supplies and helped them secure north africa as part of their empire. Temperatures in this area have reached as high as 131 degrees fahrenheit. New housing was designed around the old city that can put up with the heat and it’s now home to about 10,000 residents. 5. Acacus Mountains This mountain range in the center of the Sahara, forms between the countries of Libya and Algeria. It’s here where you’ll find a large variation of strange dune and rock formations like the Rock arch in Tadrart. This is also where you would find the ancient rock art of the Sahara, or what’s left of it. The paintings depicted giraffes, elephants, ostriches and horses and date back to 12,000 BC. The UNESCO State of Conservation reported a large about of vandalism with sledge hammers that appeared to intentionally inflicted to damage the paintings and many of them were looted. This happened when the country was under a little bit of political chaos. 4. The Saharan Horned Viper By looking at photos, many might come to the conclusion the the Sahara is a lifeless wasteland. But this certainly isn’t the case and it’s home to a unique and somewhat creepy wildlife ecosystem. Possibly the most intimidating looking snake makes itself home in Northern Africa and it has horns coming out of its head, almost like the devil himself. These horns as actually protect their eyes while they’re slithering through the Sahara sands and are very aggressive. This nocturnal, carnivorous creatures feasts on things like rodents, birds and lizards. 3. Desert Breath What could this thing possibly be? A UFO landing site? No it’s actually an art installation in Eastern Egypt. The winds of the Sahara have somewhat eroded the spiral but that’s to be somewhat expected after 10 years. This was created by a group of Greek artists and it covers a space of about 25 acres. Roughly 8000 cubic meters of sand was dug out and there used to be a body of water 98 feet deep in the center but this quickly evaporated. The artists stated that it was meant to represent the infinity of the desert. Today it sort of represents a passage of time. 2. The City of Timbuktu Located on the southern edge of the Sahara in the country of Mali, is where you’ll find the historical city of Timbuktu. It’s used in expressions, describing a really far away place but it does actually exist! Between the 12th and 14 century, this city thrived and was extremely wealthy from trading salt and ivory. This commodity was traded by large caravans of camels and it brought an enormous amount of wealth to the Malian Empire. They constructed immense fortifications around the city with a unique architecture that’s not still commonly seen today. 1.The Eye of the Sahara Hmm ok, i was told there was some kind of eye looking formation somewhere around here on google maps… Where is it? Oh! There it is! American Eye is presenting you the Saharan Eye, which is located in the country or Mauritania! This massive geological structure is in the shape of a nearly perfect circle with a 25 mile diameter! It’s so big, that Nasa used to use it as a reference point when they entered space! There are many theories on how it formed.

• published: 16 Feb 2017
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