Chapter 6 — Life in the Deserts

Chapter 6 of the Class 7 Geography NCERT textbook (Our Environment), "Natural Vegetation and Wildlife" as applied to deserts, covers two contrasting types — the hot Sahara in North Africa and the cold desert of Ladakh in the Himalayas — comparing their climates, flora, fauna, and the lives of the people who inhabit them.

• Two very different deserts — The chapter's central idea is that deserts need not be hot — it pairs the scorching Sahara with frigid Ladakh to show that extreme dryness, not just heat, defines a desert environment.
• The hot Sahara and its people — It describes the Sahara's blistering days and cold nights, sparse cactus-and-date-palm vegetation, and how nomadic Bedouins and Tuaregs herd livestock while oasis and Nile communities farm and profit from oil.
• The cold desert of Ladakh — It portrays Ladakh in the Himalayan rain shadow with scant rainfall and sub-zero winters, where Buddhist and Muslim communities grow barley in summer and cluster around famous gompas like Hemis and Thiksey.
• Adaptation and gradual change — The chapter shows how life adapts to harsh extremes, while tourism, oil, and modernisation are slowly reshaping both deserts and pressuring wildlife such as Ladakh's endangered Chiru antelope.

1. 01Sahara is the world's largest desert at 8.54 million sq km, spanning eleven North African countries including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya and Morocco.
2. 02Sahara days can reach 50°C while nights drop near 0°C; Al Azizia in Libya recorded 57.7°C in 1922, the highest temperature noted in the text.
3. 03Bedouins and Tuaregs are nomadic tribes of the Sahara who rear camels, goats, sheep and horses, using hides for leather goods and hair for mats and blankets.
4. 04Oil found in Algeria, Libya and Egypt is transforming the Sahara; other minerals in the region include iron, phosphorus, manganese and uranium.
5. 05Ladakh is a cold desert enclosed by the Karakoram Range in the north and the Zanskar mountains in the south, with the Indus as its most important river.
6. 06Ladakh receives as little as 10 cm of rainfall per year and lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas; winter temperatures can remain below −40°C.
7. 07Famous Buddhist monasteries (gompas) in Ladakh include Hemis, Thiksey, Shey and Lamayuru, and tourism to these is a major activity.
8. 08The Chiru (Tibetan antelope) is an endangered species in Ladakh, hunted for its shahtoosh wool, which is light and extremely warm.