Grand Erg Occidental

The Grand Erg Occidental (also known as the Western Sand Sea) is the second largest erg in northern Algeria, behind the Grand Erg Oriental. This true desert region receives less than 25 cm (10 in) of rainfall per year. It contains no human villages and there are no roads through it.

Algeria, on Africa's Mediterranean coast, possesses some of the starkest but most beautiful landscapes on earth. Dominated in the north and south by mountain ranges and plateaux, and crossed by the Sahara Desert, it also has several of the largest inland sand dune systems in the world, including the Grand Erg Occidental and Grand Erg Oriental, the Great Western and Eastern sand seas.


In lowland basins, they are thought to be the remnants of ancient shallow seas or lakes. Unlike most of the Sahara, whose ground is a mixture of stones and pebbles, the ergs are the epitome of everyone's romantic image of deserts, with seemingly endless ranks of golden, knife-edged dunes marching into the distance .

There are no oases, so no-one can settle here and there are no roads or villages. A road skirts around the southern side of the erg, affording magnificent, if distant, views of the dunes and it is possible to travel a short way into the area from the beautiful oasis towns around its edge, like El Golea, Beni Abbes and Tarhit. Even a brief walk into this surreal landscape leaves visitors in awe of the scale of these giant natural sculptures and with a readjusted sense of their own importance.

Coral Reefs including the Eye of the Maldives

The Maldive Islands are located 480 km (300 mi) south west of Cape Cormorin, on the southern tip of India. Consisting of 26 large atolls containing 1,190 islands, they run 648 km (405 mi) from north to south, and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, a double chain lying within the central area. Only 200 of the islands are inhabited and, of these, some 88 are exclusive holiday resorts.

The geomorphology of the Maldivian islands is unusual. An atoll is a coral formation surrounding a circular lagoon, but these lagoons, many of which are very large, are dotted with other, smaller, ring shaped reefs, each surrounding its own sandy lagoon. These are known locally as "faros", and this formation is known as the Eye of the Maldives. Natural channels, allowing the free movement of fish and currents between the lagoons and the open sea, cut through each reef.

The islands are formed from coral sand, and are very low lying, averaging no more than 2 m (6 ft 6 in), with vegetation mainly consisting of coconut palms, and mangroves. Just take a look, however, beneath the surface of the turquoise sea and you will find glorious, dazzling coral gardens teeming with multi-coloured fish that are more curious than afraid of humans.

The diving and snorkelling here is the main attraction, and the exclusivity of many of its resorts, which appeals to the rich and famous. Long term, the Maldives are under threat. Climate change is already adversely affecting the coral, which can only thrive at temperatures from 24 to 27 ํC (75 to 81 ํF), and the natural phenomena of El Nino and La Nina has caused severe bleaching to some of the formations.

Sea levels are also rising, and although preventative work is being done, it seems that these fairy tale coral islands will surely slip beneath the surface of the sea in the not too distant future. Tourism is the main source of revenue here, so much so that, whilst happy to sell alcohol to tourists, all luggage is X-rayed on arrival and any alcohol discovered is confiscated and returned only on departure.