Plateau of Angola
Congo’s Midst
Serra da Chela
Timbuctu
Suez
Opening
Pilanesberg
Lunda
Ounianga
Adrar Ahnet
Sea of Gazelles
Niles White and Blue
El Hank
Tifernine
Fish River
Marzuk
The constant wind of the central Sahara has clustered its moving sand in great oblate dunefields called Ergs. This one is in the southwestern corner of Libya, and is spilling downwind into a rift valley. This area was a populous node during pluvial times which were associated with the continental glacial advances. Several important archeological… Read more »
Plains of Tidikelt
Losiolo
Gilf Kebir
Mountains of the Moon
Escarpments
The geometry of East Africa’s rift troughs seemed impossibly complex, until Shuttle-based elevation data allowed such views as this in 2005. From the north of Kenya to central Zimbabwe, rift trends cross and pass under each other like a roller coaster. Colors range from torrid down low to the moderate greens of the most temperate… Read more »
Forgotten Land
Westerners have spoken of Darkest Africa as if there is no light there, which is only part true for the tiny portion (< 5%) with closed-canopy rain forest. The palette of this elevation-only view is gray to evoke the lack of familiarity, and the coasts use a bloody set of hues to remember their violent… Read more »
Kordofan
Greater Somalia
It used to be that the long slopes of this region were traversed by pastoralists in rhythm with seasonal cycles, so herds could take advantage of lowland wet-season production, and save the highland areas as dry season reserves. The post-colonial imposition of national boundaries made little sense ecologically. Chronic warfare has resulted in Eritrea, in… Read more »
Brandberg
Havens of Ifoghas
In northeastern Mali are these low hills, called the Ifoghas, where enough elevation collects enough rain to make this one of the most favored parts of the Sahara Desert. A high proportion of the drainages are green as they sweep down through the boney dark outcrops. A sand street has invaded the hills on the… Read more »