Atacama Desert Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1000-km (600-mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is one of the driest places in the world (the driest being the McMurdo Dry Valleys ) , as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than the polar deserts. According to estimates, the Atacama Desert occupies , or if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included. Most of the desert is composed of stony terrain, salt lakes ("salares"), sand, and felsic lava
Tourism in the Arab world Deserts reign in most of northern Africa where the Sahara exists, the world's hottest desert where some of the sand dunes can reach 180 metres (590 ft) in height. The Arabian Peninsula is mainly covered by a range of deserts: the Nefud in the north, which is a stony desert; the Rub' Al-Khali or "Great Arabian Desert" in the south, and between them, the Dahna desert. In contrast, the Arab World boasts some of the highest mountain ranges in both Africa and Asia. The Atlas Mountains rise from the northern Sahara to peak of 4,167 m before cascading east towards