What was the Sahara like during the African Humid Period, which ended roughly 5,000 years ago?

Green, with lakes and grasslands

What makes an oasis possible in the middle of the desert?

Underground water reaching the surface

Melting snow from mountain glaciers

Regular monsoon storms every summer

Sahara Desert Quiz: Dunes, Oases and Camels of Morocco

This Sahara Desert quiz crosses the world's largest hot desert, from the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi near Merzouga in Morocco to the Tuareg people, dromedary camels, oases, the Eye of the Sahara, Tassili n'Ajjer rock art, fennec foxes and the days when the Sahara was green. Ten questions.

Start Sahara Desert Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 90 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 90s

Size
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world. Which desert is larger overall?
Name
What does the word Sahara mean in Arabic?
Dunes
Erg Chebbi, with dunes up to about 150 meters high, lies near which Moroccan village?
People
Which nomadic people of the Sahara are known as the blue people for their indigo-dyed clothing?
Camels
How many humps does the dromedary, the camel of the Sahara, have?
Landforms
The Richat Structure, a giant circular rock formation visible from space, is also called what?
History
What was the Sahara like during the African Humid Period, which ended roughly 5,000 years ago?
Animals
Which small desert fox has huge ears that help it lose heat?
Dust
Saharan dust carried across the Atlantic helps fertilize which rainforest?
Oases
What makes an oasis possible in the middle of the desert?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world. Which desert is larger overall?
Answer: The Antarctic Desert
A desert is defined by low precipitation, not heat. Antarctica receives so little snow and rain that it counts as the world's largest desert.
Q2: What does the word Sahara mean in Arabic?
Answer: Desert
Sahara comes from the Arabic word for desert, so the Sahara Desert literally means the desert desert. The Sahara covers about 9 million square kilometers.
Q3: Erg Chebbi, with dunes up to about 150 meters high, lies near which Moroccan village?
Answer: Merzouga
Visitors ride camels into the dunes at sunset and sleep in desert camps. Erg is the word for a large sea of sand dunes.
Q4: Which nomadic people of the Sahara are known as the blue people for their indigo-dyed clothing?
Answer: The Tuareg
Tuareg men traditionally wear a long blue veil called a tagelmust. The indigo dye can rub off and tint their skin blue.
Q5: How many humps does the dromedary, the camel of the Sahara, have?
Answer: One
The hump stores fat, not water. Dromedaries can go many days without drinking and then drink more than 100 liters at once.
Q6: The Richat Structure, a giant circular rock formation visible from space, is also called what?
Answer: The Eye of the Sahara
The rings, about 40 kilometers across, lie in Mauritania. Scientists believe they formed from an eroded dome of rock, not a meteor impact.
Q7: What was the Sahara like during the African Humid Period, which ended roughly 5,000 years ago?
Answer: Green, with lakes and grasslands
Rock paintings show giraffes, cattle and swimmers. Shifts in Earth's orbit changed monsoon rains and turned the region to desert again.
Q8: Which small desert fox has huge ears that help it lose heat?
Answer: The fennec fox
The fennec is the smallest fox in the world. Its ears can be up to 15 centimeters long, and fur on its feet protects it from hot sand.
Q9: Saharan dust carried across the Atlantic helps fertilize which rainforest?
Answer: The Amazon
Satellites show that millions of tons of dust cross the ocean every year. It carries phosphorus, a nutrient the Amazon's soils lack.
Q10: What makes an oasis possible in the middle of the desert?
Answer: Underground water reaching the surface
Springs and wells tap water from deep aquifers. Date palms grow around oases, providing shade for other crops beneath them.

Sahara Desert Quiz – The Great Desert of Africa

The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, covering about 9 million square kilometers of North Africa, almost the size of the United States. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and touches 11 countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Niger, Mali and Chad. Its name comes from the Arabic word for desert.

Most people imagine the Sahara as endless sand dunes, but dunes cover only about a quarter of it. The rest is rocky plateaus, gravel plains, salt flats and mountains such as the Tibesti in Chad and the Hoggar in Algeria. Morocco's Erg Chebbi near Merzouga is one of the most visited dune fields, where travelers ride camels at sunset and sleep under the stars.

The Sahara has not always been dry. During the African Humid Period, it was green, with lakes, rivers and grasslands full of hippos, giraffes and elephants. Rock art at sites such as Tassili n'Ajjer in Algeria records this lost world. Around 5,000 years ago, the rains moved south and the desert returned.

People have lived in the Sahara for thousands of years. The Tuareg, Berbers and other nomadic peoples traveled with camel caravans, trading salt, gold and cloth between North and West Africa. Oases with springs and date palms became towns and trading posts. Today, many people still live in oasis communities, while others work in tourism, farming or mining.

Life in the Sahara is tough. Daytime temperatures can be scorching, nights can be cold and rain may not fall for years. Yet animals such as the fennec fox, the dromedary camel, the addax antelope and desert beetles have adapted cleverly to survive.

This quiz covers the geography, history, people and wildlife of the Sahara.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz is perfect for geography fans, travelers and nature lovers.

How big the Sahara is and what its name means
Erg Chebbi and Morocco's desert dunes
The Tuareg and desert life
Camels, fennec foxes and other wildlife
The Eye of the Sahara and the green Sahara
How oases and Saharan dust work

Quick Facts About the Sahara

The Sahara's highest point is Emi Koussi in Chad, a volcano over 3,400 meters high.
Snow has occasionally fallen on dunes near Aïn Séfra in Algeria.
Some dunes can move several meters a year in strong winds.
The Nile is the only river that crosses the Sahara all year round.
The Marathon des Sables is a multi-day race through Moroccan desert.
Some Saharan dust even reaches Europe, turning skies orange.