Endless Horizon

Welcome to the second largest continent in the world

and the cradle of mankind,

Africa.

Many myths surround the landscapes under the hot sun

and the people who wrestle the smallest parcels of inhabitable land

from the desert sands and the impenetrable jungle.

Africa, with its elephants, camels, lions,

and gorillas

who inhabit the dark rainforests,

hot deserts, and vast savannas.

But the continent is more than just its unique wildlife.

Dust, hot, and sunny,

these are the associations with the name Africa.

All these terms refer to the north of the country,

which is dominated by a single immense and boundless desert.

As hostile the desert may seem at first glance,

one may be very surprised with the second one.

And while the tropical rainforests along the equator

may seem like paradise on Earth

with their temperatures and rich rainfalls,

the jungle bears perils

that are as deadly as the heat of the desert.

This apparent contradiction between forest and desert,

rain and dust, life and death

describes Africa like no other part of the world

and can be repeatedly found throughout the continent.

Amid this turbulent and dangerous landscape,

the first ancestor of man once descended from a tree,

creating the cornerstone

for the triumphal march of mankind.

Let us explore the history of this unique corner of the Earth

and discover some of the most wonderful places

in the world.

The Earth is covered by many different climate zones

which encourage specialised plant and animal kingdoms

on each continent.

Once, gigantic deciduous forests

covered almost the whole extent of Europe.

This temperate forest is only replaced

along the Mediterranean coast

due to the drier and warmer Mediterranean climate.

Eastward, the Asian steppe opens wide,

penetrating far into the largest continent of the world.

North of the steppe, boreal forests

dominate the landscapes of Siberia and the Far East.

In the southern regions of Asia, however,

particularly in the Middle East,

more and more desert and savannah-like landscapes are common.

In Southeast Asia,

rainforests stretch to the islands of Indonesia.

In the heartland of sunny Australia, a desert is surrounded

by a variety of savannas, steppes, and rainforests.

The new world, consisting of North,

Central, and South America,

is covered by a large number of different climates.

The north is characterised by tundra and coniferous forests,

while the centre of the North American continent

is dominated by large plains, temperate landscapes,

and some desert regions.

In South America, vast expanses of rainforest

form along the Amazon,

while the often harsh climatic conditions of the Andean Mountains

serve as an extreme contrast.

At the centre of all these continents and climate zones

is Africa.

Deserts cover the entire northern

and southern parts of the West Coast,

while at the centre is the African jungle.

Rainforest and desert are separated

by broad belts of savannah

with different gradations of climate.

While at first glance, Africa might seem grim

and less interesting than other continents,

it is, in fact, the most unique continent on our planet.

What makes Africa so special?

The most prominent features of Africa

are the gigantic animal herds

which travel great distances in search of food.

However, it's not only the large number of the individual animals,

but also the large number of different types of flora and fauna

that make the continent stand out.

In addition to the unparalleled biodiversity of Africa,

its legacy as the cradle of humanity

gives it a unique heritage.

Over millennia,

the various cultures of the once young species

have evolved quite differently

so that many different ways of life come together in Africa.

But despite the long period

in which mankind has inhabited Africa,

the continent still holds many secrets

in its inner most depths.

Vast and endless under the scorching sun

lie the deserts of Africa.

To the north stretches the Sahara,

the largest dry desert of the Earth,

virtually stretching over the entire area of North Africa.

Its dunes and valleys are the stuff of many legends and tales.

Once the home of countless kingdoms

and crisscrossed by the salt caravans of the Tuareg,

it is now an almost deserted place.

Far to the south is the Namib,

one of the rare fog deserts.

It covers large parts of Namibia and Angola

and has an area of nearly 100,000 square kilometres.

The Namib is one of the driest deserts on Earth

and is characterised by, among other things,

extremely high and colourful dunes.

At the core of the Kalahari Basin is the Kalahari Desert,

which stands out from the other deserts

due to its red sandstone.

With nearly 900,000 square kilometres,

it extends over many African countries.

The entire Kalahari Basin,

which is covered at the edges with dry savannah,

is even larger.

No matter where a desert is located,

it's human instinct to view it as a lifeless place.

But deserts are more than just big dead sandboxes.

Majestically, the summits of some isolated mountains

rise far above the dunes of the desert,

the distinctive ridges of mountains

to the uniform and smooth texture of the desert.

From the far reaches of the sea of sand,

mountain peaks jut out like lonely islands.

Many of these individual outcroppings

are petrified sand dunes

which can form high plateaus.

Other solitary mountains are often volcanic in origin.

However, entire mountain ranges

can be the witnesses to violent tectonic activity.

Impressive examples of such activity

include the Ahaggar Mountains of the Tibesti,

which is the highest mountain range in the Sahara.

At the north-western edge of the Sahara extend the Atlas Mountains.

This mountain range forms a natural boundary

between the hot desert and the Mediterranean climate

of Northern Morocco.

Unusual for mountains lying in or on the edge of a desert,

the mountains of the Atlas contain metals and raw materials

such as iron and silver, as well as natural gas.

Cheret, Tenere, or simply Great Desert,

these are the names of the largest dry desert in the world,

the Sahara.

The Sahara covers nine million square kilometres

with its sand, gravel, and boulders,

a region so dry and hot

that all living creatures yield

to the relentless emptiness,

or at least so it seems.

The desert can be more than just sand and dust.

In some places, every now and then,

a river cuts through the inhospitable wasteland.

But it is only slightly visible in the shimmering heat,

and soon, all traces are lost again

in the endless sea of sand.

Away from the water,

the eternal expanses of sand dominate,

but the idea of the Sahara

consisting only of endless sandy dunes

is incorrect.

Actually, only one-fifth of the deserts

are real sand deserts.

These are commonly called erg or edean

and consists mainly of quartz,

which has been eroded by the wind from larger rocks and stones.

The rock formations created by the erosion

not only have many different forms,

but in some cases, seem very curious indeed.

On the west coast is the Namib,

one of the few fog deserts of the world.

The cold Benguela current off the coast

has been the cause for the decade-long

lack of precipitation in the Namib.

The Namib Desert existed almost 80 million years ago

on Gondwana, the original continent.

At that time, it was not located on the coast.

This occurred only after the continental drift.

High, rugged mountains dominate the landscape

at the edges of the Namib.

The origin of the gravel-like rock formations

has an interesting reason.

The huge temperature differences

between the red hot days and the freezing cold nights

lead the large rocks and boulders

to explode into smaller pieces.

We return from the foggy desert of the Namib

back to the Sahara.

Here, the wind-polished rocks and lonely high dunes

are awaiting us again.

The desert, close to the few mountains that rise out of the sand,

is particularly dry.

However, it is not true

that the Sahara has always been a hot and sandy place.

Within the last 100,000 years,

there have been some periods when the Sahara was a green savannah.

The last of these wet or pluvial times

was about 8,000 years ago.

During this time,

hunter-gatherers migrated into the region, settled down,