Desert vegetation
Desert plants are well adapted to survive the high temperature and intense heat of hot desert. Most desert plants have thorns or thick, waxy leaves which help to store water and prevent its loss due to evaporation. Their roots may go down deep into the earth to find water, sometimes as deep as 15 meters. Others plants survive the heat and the long periods of drought as seeds or bulbs. These spring to life suddenly when it rains. Palm trees sand gram grows in an oasis.
Villages up in the desert wherever there is a sources of water. Deep down beneath the Sahara are underground rivers. Men are sometimes able to bring this water to the surface by wells and boreholes. Then, that area becomes fertile and is called an Oasis. Water flows through the oasis in irrigation ditches. The size of an oasis can vary. Some oases are thousands of hectares in size; as for example, Kufre and Siwa are two large oases while there are other small ones too.
A permanent settlement usually springs up around an oasis. The people of the oasis usually make their houses out of clay and mud. The roofs are flat and made of palm trunks, covered first with small plants and then plastered with mud. The walls are very thick. This keeps the house cool during the day and warm during the night. The houses are closely packed along wining streets. They have low, small windows so that the people who sit on floors inside the house can see what is happening outside.
The BNS is the most important place in an oasis. It consists of the market place, a mosque, a school and several shops. Each oasis has its own agriculture lands.
There is a high wall around each oasis to keep out the sand that may be carried in by a violent dust storm. These dust storms of the Sahara called Simooms are very dangerous. Fierce winds traveling at a great speed can be quite destructive. In the Saharan and Arabian deserts, mud walls were built around villages for defence against the wandering tribe (nomads) who sometimes attacked the oases. The Tuareg were fierce nomads.
In this type of climate as much land as possible is given to the growing of dates as the date palm flourishes. The long root reaches deep into the soil for moisture and nourishment. The men are kept busy watering managing and pruning the plants or in planting new palms. The palms take four years before they yield a harvest of 6 or 7 huge bunches of golden –brown dates. August is harvest time and consequently a busy time or the oasis –dweller. After dates are harvested, wheat, maize, barely, millet, fruits and vegetables like radishes, onions, tomatoes and peppers are planted in rows between the palms. There are watered by canals or water that is drawn from wells by canals.
The camel has been called `the ship of the desert’, because it was and still is, the most important means of transport as it is specially adapted to travel and work in the desert. Its large, padded feet are splayed to prevent them from sinking in the sand. Its long eyelashes protect their eyes during sandstorms. The nourishment that it needs during long journeys with food is stored in its hump in the form of fat. The camel can also travel for a week without drinking water. Whenever water becomes available, the camel consumes it in large quantities. This water is then stored in the tissues. Besides storing water, the camel can reduce the loss of water by sweating less.
Long ago camels were the main means of transporting dates and salt to the coastal towns here the dates were cleaned and packed for export. In recent years roads have been built between oasis towns and the coastal ports. Now cars fitted with caterpillar wheels can move about without sinking in the sand. Aero plane are also used for longer journeys. These can carry goods far more quickly than camels. Thus oasis towns have become the centre of caravan and motor routes. Some of the men have adopted western clothes and wear a red fez. They have all the comforts of a modern town life.
There is sufficient moisture for coarse grass to grow on the edge of the desert, near the oasis. These form the pasture lands for sheep, goats and camels. The desert people are nomads. Many nomads have flocks of seep and goats as well as camels. They travel with their animals in search of fresh pastures.
They live mainly on sour milk d cottage cheese. Water is carried in goat sin bags. Their tents are usually made of goat’s hair or woven wool on wooden frames so that they can move easily. Their clothes are simple and woven from the hair of their animals. The outer garment is a loose robe that is slit at the sides. It is worn over a pair of baggy pants. The head and shoulders are protected by a cloth which can easily be drawn over the head in case of a storm.
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