an image of a group of people standing on a sand dune on the Bushmasters desert venture trip

Five Intriguing Facts About the Desert

While we are probably best known for the work we do in Guyana’s jungles here at Bushmasters, we also frequently visit the deserts of Jordan. Our desert venture and survival trips are extremely popular, and they offer something completely different to our rainforest trips.

A relatively unknown biome to many, the desert holds many secrets is fascinating in countless ways. In our latest blog post, we’re taking a closer look at some of these ways with our 5-point factlist.

Two extremes

Deserts generally get pretty warm during the day (yes, generally – we’ll explain more in point 4). At night, however, they can be some of the coldest places on earth. For example, the Sahara could reach temperatures of over 50 Degrees during the day and fall to below freezing overnight.

How much land?

It’s a relatively well-known fact that the majority of the earth’s surface is water. Around 70%, in fact. Something that’s less well-known, however, is that around a third of the earth’s land surface is desert. With climate change already affecting our world’s habitats, that number is definitely liable to change.

Dangerous locals

A number of potentially dangerous animals inhabit the earth’s deserts. None is more lethal than the Inland Taipan, the world’s most venomous snake. Thankfully, the Taipain is extremely shy and doesn’t tend to seek confrontations with people. Relieved? Well, try not to think too much about the Camel Spider or the Deathstalker Scorpion …

Not always sandy

When people think of deserts, they generally think “sand”. That’s not their only defining feature, though; it’s all down to dryness. Anywhere that receives less than 40cm of precipitation a year can be counted as a desert. With this in mind, the Arctic and Antarctic deserts certainly buck the stereotype of sandy habitats. Remember what we hinted at in our first point?

One long day

An image of the midnight sun over the arctic circle

During the height of summer, the sun doesn’t set for 60 days in some areas of the desert. In parts of the Arctic desert, you can go a couple of months without darkness. Just Google the “land of the midnight sun” and you can see for yourself.

What we do

Here at Bushmasters, we don’t take you to the Antarctic desert, nor would you be at risk of bumping into any Camel Spiders (seriously, if you don’t know what they look like, Google it).

We do, however, run ventures and survival experiences in Jordan, where you can experience the intrigue of the desert for yourself. To hear more about how our trips work, head over to our contact page and take a look at our dates and costs.