Deserts of Libya Under Threat

A Sea without Water

The southern part of Libya is one of the world's most arid places. Gently waving sand dunes, gravel plains without end and mysterious lakes mark the surface of the Sahara. But a gigantic development championed by President Moammar Gadhafi is threatening this natural wonder.

The "mother of all water" lies in the middle of a boundless wasteland. The golden light of dusk dips the dark-blue Umm al Maa in surreal charm, and a light wind plays among the dark-green reeds along the bank. Reddish-brown dates sparkle on the palm trees, but deceptively gentle and hostile sand dunes surround the promise of fertility. People say that you cannot comprehend this wonder unless you have seen it with your own eyes.

But this is what it means to experience it in person. Imagine winding over a sea of sand for hours in an all-terrain vehicle. Up the dunes, down the dunes. Imagine having to push the vehicle in 40-degree Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) heat whenever it gets stuck in the sand, which is as fine as flour. It gets easier to breathe again once the sun has gone down and the sand has once again "closed" with the evening cool, as the Tuareg people say. Then, at last, with a final dash up a particularly high dune, you look over to see a reflection of the Garden of Eden -- a lake surrounded by palm trees. Bathing in the ocean couldn't be more refreshing than leaping into this desert water.

The Ubari Lakes in the Idehan Ubari -- or Ubari Sand Sea -- of west-central Libya number among the country's most beautiful natural treasures. Even today, it's hard to ascertain how many there are -- 10 or 15 -- because some of the smaller lakes dry out from time to time and then mysteriously fill up once again. Fluctuations in ground water levels presumably play a role in this mystery, but the issue is still as drenched in uncertainty as the question of why the lakes haven't just silted up altogether.

The lakes are thought to be remnants of what was once an enormous body of water that filled up the Sahara basin roughly 400,000 years ago and then once again about 200,000 years ago. One theory holds that sand is constantly pouring into the lakes and that, as a result, it regularly breaks into underground hollows, which in turn causes the waters to sink further into the ground.

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Abdul Ibrahim has another explanation. "The sand respects the grave of 'Aoun," says the silver trader, who lives alone in a hut on the edge of the Gebraoun -- the lake whose name means "grave of 'Aoun" -- and sells jewelry to travelers and young Libyans, who occasionally come out here on pick-up trucks to spend the night under the stars. Legend has it that this lake, the largest of the Ubari Lakes, was discovered by 'Aoun, a local hero, whose grave was worshiped on an 80-meter (260-foot) high sand dune at the edge of the lake.

Visit the Doctor, Take A Journey around the World

Cut: A two-day trip of approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the southwest, muezzin Abdarrahman Babar, 43, punctually leaves his house located next to the main mosque in the oasis city of Ghat for afternoon prayers. The honored position of being the one to call fellow Muslims to prayer has been in Abdarrahman's family for 600 years, and he took over the role from his grandfather 15 years ago. Although he now has a home in a new part of the city, he still comes to the old town every day to perform his duty. He thinks back fondly on a former time: "The court of justice used to sit right in front of the mosque. And that is where the elders sat and consulted among themselves."

Today, men sit a few hundred meters away in modern houses with running water and satellite televisions. The traditional life of the old city has disappeared. "In today's Ghat, we enjoy good living conditions, but it's too far to get from here to the larger cities," Abdarrahman says. "If someone needs to see a specialized physician, he has to travel halfway around the world."

Abdarrahman's six sons and three daughters abandoned their hometown long ago. But Abdarrahman can't go because, in the end, his family is still responsible for the mosque. And, at some point in the future, one of his sons or grandsons will have to take over his position.

When the Earth Is as Smooth as Glass

Three days later and 600 kilometers east of Ghat, all colors have been reduced to one: dark yellow. Left, right, front, back -- anywhere you look, the Earth is as smooth as glass, yellow plains of sand as fine as dust -- or at least that what it seems to be. That's because here, where there are no plants or stones to form any sort of relief, the human eye loses its ability to orient itself in the blinding sunlight. When you're driving in a place like this, you can no longer tell if you are going uphill, downhill or rushing straight into a mound of earth -- a peril that has been the end of many a traveler.

At dusk, the sun throws shadows that are 30-meters long on the orange-hued, shimmering sand. The wind grows silent, and the silence blankets the sand dunes. And while the shooting stars put on their own firework display in the firmament above, you can only hear a single sound: your own pulse beating in your ears.

That is the desert.

It can assume various guises, and one of its most beautiful forms can be found in the Sahara, whose 9 million square kilometers (3.5 million square miles) form the world's largest desert. Since approximately 5,500 years ago, when it became a complete desert, the Sahara covered most of Northern Africa -- the 6,000 kilometers between the Atlantic and the Red Sea, and the 2,000 kilometers between the Mediterranean and the Sahel region. Its most arid stretches are called the Libyan Desert.