Photo Gallery Paradise in the Middle of the Sahara
A caravan of camels passes by Ounianga Serir, the only fresh-water lake in the Ounianga oasis complex. The lakes are a miracle of nature that have lasted thousands of years. There are no other comparable stretches of open water within a radius of more than 800 kilometers (500 miles).
Ounianga Serir, the third largest lake in northern Chad: Massive sand dunes that reach into the water like giant fingers will eventually bury the entire oasis, but now there are still date palms growing there.
In an article titled "Man of the Desert," the journal Nature describes scientist Stefan Kröpelin as "one of the most devoted Sahara explorers of our time." Some see him as part of an explorer-scholar tradition established by predecessors like Heinrich Barth and Gustav Nachtigal.
Ounianga Kebir, the second largest lake in northern Chad: Kröpelin is convinced that analyzing the Ounianga sediments will offer a glimpse into an entire chapter of human history.
An astronaut photo of the Ounianga basin. Here in the inhospitable dryness of the desert, blades and arrowheads made of quartzite or ring-shaped traces of settlements are evidence that Homo sapiens once ruled the Sahara.
