Australia is called the driest continent on earth for a reason. About forty percent of its territory is occupied by deserts. And the largest of them is called so: Victoria. This desert is located in the southern and western parts of the continent. It is difficult to clearly isolate its boundaries and thereby determine the area. After all, another desert adjoins it from the north - Gibson.
What causes such dryness in Australia? The proximity of Antarctica, the monsoonal climate of Asia and the specificity of the Pacific Ocean contribute to the fact that little precipitation falls over the southwestern part of the continent. But that's not all. There are no springs or rivers in the Victoria Desert. This circumstance makes it the most severe human habitat. But people still live there. And not just brave explorers. Read about the amazing and mysterious world of the Victoria Desert in this article.
Arid Continent
Just think about it: slightly less than half of Australia is solid desert. And the rest of the regions are also very dry. Only the extreme north of the mainland, located in the equatorial climatic zone, and the east, where mountains rise, do not experience a lack of heavenly moisture. Surprisingly, most deserts are located in the subtropics. These particularly dry regions are divided into types. There are foothill, clayey, sandy, rocky deserts and plain. What type is Victoria? This desert is sandy and saline. It is surrounded by large lakes. But the salinity in them is the same as water on Mars can be. Nevertheless, scientists have found living organisms, bacteria, in the gypsum water of these lakes. Sandy deserts are the most common. They cover thirty-two percent of the continent.
Greater Victoria Desert
It would seem that there could be something interesting and poetic in the dried-up winds that carry s alt from the lakes, and in the earth burned by the sun? But the tourists who have been there bring such wonderful photographs that it seems as if they traveled to another planet, and not just one. Southeast and northwest winds lay the sand in perfect parallel coattails, coloring these stripes in purple, ash, gold, purple and brown.
Despite the fact that there is not a single source here, the Victoria Desert (the photo shows this) does not look uninhabited. Here live, albeit in small numbers, such Aboriginal Australian tribes as the Kogara and the Myrning. There is also a town - Coober Pedy. We will talk about him a little later, but for now we will only indicate that his name is translated as "White People Under the Earth." desert alsohas its own natural park. In Mamungari you can watch rare reptiles, animals, birds.
Where is the Victoria Desert
A huge natural landscape of 424,400 square kilometers is spread across two states: Western and South Australia. From the north, another desert adjoins Victoria - Gibson. From the south, it is outlined by the arid plain of Nullarbor. From east to west, the Victoria Desert stretches for more than seven hundred kilometers. And its length from north to south reaches 500 km. One can only imagine the courage of the English explorer Ernest Giles, who in 1875 was the first to cross these sands. He named the largest desert on the continent after the reigning Queen of Great Britain. Rain falls here annually from 200 to 250 millimeters. Snow was not recorded throughout the meteorological observations. The oral traditions of the aborigines also do not convey any information about the precipitation of solid precipitation over the desert. However, thunderstorms often break out over Victoria. They happen fifteen or even twenty times a year. In summer the temperature reaches +40 degrees Celsius. It is not cold even in the winter months. In June-August, the thermometer shows from eighteen to twenty-three degrees with a plus mark.
Natural landscapes
It is generally accepted that the sandy desert is endless dunes. But that's not Victoria. This desert is a thicket of unpretentious acacias and thorny drought-resistant spinifex plants. In the lowlands where close togroundwater is suitable for the surface, even eucalyptus trees grow. When a rare rain falls, the desert is transformed. Out of nowhere, flowers appear, grasses turn green, which looks fantastic against the background of red sand. Therefore, Victoria is a fully protected area in the state of Western Australia. And in the south there is the Mamungari Biosphere Reserve.
Flora and fauna
The continent of Australia itself is very isolated from other continents. As a result, its flora and fauna is unique. Victoria is even more isolated from other natural landscapes of Australia. The desert is inhabited by endemics - species that are found only here and nowhere else. From the plant world, one can recall kangaroo grass, soleros, cochia, s altwort.
The fauna of the desert does not shine with species diversity. The most common species in the Victoria Desert is the kangaroo rat. With a large marsupial animal (symbol of Australia), this jerboa has nothing in common, except for a similar structure of muscular hind legs. Of the mammals in the desert, there is a dingo dog and a bandicoot - a marsupial animal resembling a rabbit. The reserve is home to budgerigars and emus. Nine of the top 10 most venomous snake species live in Australia. The most dangerous is considered aspid taipan. This brown snake with red eyes also has an extremely aggressive disposition, attacking even when it is not threatened. Lethal outcome is ensured in one hundred percent of cases: in small animals instantly, in humans - after five hours. And here is a formidableIn appearance, the thorn-covered Moloch lizard is not at all dangerous.
Population
The Victoria Desert is not deserted. It is inhabited by aboriginal groups, which are ethnographically related to the Myrning and Kogara tribes. They belong to the Australoid race. But, nevertheless, among them often come across people with natural blond hair. Such blondes are not the fruit of mixed marriages with Anglo-Saxons or Scandinavians. This is a mutation that arose in antiquity, which was fixed in desert communities isolated from other tribes.
Aborigines of Australia in the early twentieth century were on the verge of extinction. But now, thanks to the changed policy of the government, their number has again increased to five hundred thousand people. Desert natives practice traditional hunting and gathering activities.
Coober Pedy Underground City
The Victoria Desert in Australia is considered the capital of opals. About thirty percent of all world reserves of this stone are concentrated here. The miners occupied the exhausted pits for … dwellings. Indeed, under the ground all year round there is a very comfortable temperature of +22 degrees. So gradually an underground town appeared on the site of the mines, which the astonished natives called Coober Pedy. The first trees were made of iron. They either plastered the rooms or covered them with PVA glue - then the beautiful texture of the stone was visible. Movies such as Pitch Black, The Adventures of Priscilla, Mad Max 3 and others were filmed in Coober Pedy. Interestingly, in the arid desert of Victoria, there arecaves filled with water. Malamulang and Cocklebiddy are centers for diving enthusiasts. And in the Kunalda cave you can see the rock paintings of the ancient natives.
