Ténéré (region)

The Ténéré is a dry, hot, sand dune-covered region within the Sahara Desert in north central Africa. The Ténéré covers about 154,440 square miles (400,000 square kilometers) of territory in the nations of Niger and Chad. Its name, which is pronounced ten-err-ay, comes from the language of the local Tuareg people and means “desert behind the desert.” The Ténéré is an extremely remote region of sand and gravel with such an inhospitable climate that almost no plant life can survive there. With the nearby Aïr Mountains, parts of the desert makes up the Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, the largest protected area in Africa. Despite its harsh modern climate, the region, along with the entire Sahara, was once much wetter and was able to support a thriving prehistoric culture. Evidence of these ancient people can still be found carved into the area’s rocks and buried beneath the sand.

Background

The Sahara Desert is the largest hot-climate desert on Earth, covering about 3.6 million square miles (9.3 million square kilometers) of northern Africa—about a third of the entire continent. The region was once part of a large ocean about 250 million years ago before the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided, slowly shrinking the ocean until it formed the Mediterranean Sea. Over the ensuing millions of years, the region became a humid, tropical rainforest. As the surrounding ocean continued to recede, the formation of more dry land masses in what is today the Middle East caused the region’s precipitation to decline about 7 million years ago.

However, the drying out of the Sahara region was not permanent. As Earth travels around the sun, the angle at which the planet’s axis is tilted wobbles back and forth over the course of about 41,000 years. This shift causes the amount of sunlight the Northern Hemisphere receives to fluctuate over thousands of years, leading to a change in the pattern of the monsoon rains. During the times when the rains move south, the Sahara region becomes arid and dry; when the rain pattern shifts north, the desert climate changes to an area covered in lakes and vegetation.

Archaeologists have found stone weapons and tools indicating humans first inhabited the Sahara about 60,000 years ago. About 11,000 years ago, the region was in the middle of its last “green” period and was covered in grasslands, forests, and rivers. Then, about 5,000 years ago, the region suddenly dried up and transformed into the inhospitable landscape it is today.

Overview

The terrain of the Sahara Desert varies widely across its vast expanse, which has led geographers to subdivide the desert into twelve smaller regions. The Ténéré is the region located in the south-central Sahara, encompassing parts of northeastern Niger to western Chad. The region stretches from the Aïr Mountains in the west, the Hoggar Mountains in the north, the Djado Plateau in the northeast, the Tibesti Mountains in the east, and the Lake Chad basin to the south. Much of the area is covered by sand with the desert winds sweeping the sand into fields of large dunes called ergs. The northwest section of the Ténéré turns into a plain of packed gravel known as a reg.

Temperatures in the region can be brutal, with highs in the hottest summer months averaging about 111 degrees F (44 degrees C), and nighttime lows only falling to about 81 F (27 C). Even during the winter months, the average high reaches about 82 F (28 C) with lows of 46 F (8 C). Rainfall is extremely scarce with the entire region receiving a yearly average of about 24 millimeters, or slightly less than one inch. Some spots in the Ténéré have been known to go years without receiving measurable rain.

During the period when the Sahara was wetter and more fertile, several human cultures lived and thrived in the Ténéré region. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, archaeologists excavated a human burial ground containing more than two hundred graves. The graves, some of which dated back about ten thousand years, showed evidence of two cultures that lived in the region. One, named the Kiffians, inhabited the area from about 6000 to 8000 BCE; the other, called the Tenerians, lived there until about 3000 BCE. The region’s cultures disappeared when the Sahara dried out, but they left behind numerous rock carvings and paintings that can still be seen today. Some carvings show pictures of large animals such as giraffes, proving that the region was once more fertile and able to support a wider variety of life.

Few people live within the boundaries of the modern Ténéré, with most of the region’s population residing on the edges of the desert. The oasis settlements of Fachi and Bilma are among the only inhabited places within the Ténéré itself. They are important stops for the salt caravans that travel through the area. In 1988, the western sections of the Ténéré desert and the eastern portion of the Aïr Mountains were combined in a protected area known as the Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves. At 29,846 square miles (77,300 square kilometers), the reserve is the largest in Africa and contains hundreds of species of plants and animals, though the majority of them are located in the Aïr highlands. Several species of reptiles, birds, and mammals, including the endangered Addax antelope, do reside in the arid environment of the Ténéré.

While the climate makes it nearly impossible for any plant life to grow in the region, in the twentieth century, the desert was home to a resilient tree that defied nature and managed to survive. Known as the Tree of Ténéré, the lone acacia was located near Bilma and was used as a landmark by salt caravans. With no other tree within 250 miles (402 kilometers), the Tree of Ténéré was given the informal title as the most remote tree on Earth. It survived by digging its roots more than 110 feet (34 meters) into the ground to access water from an underground well. In 1973, the tree was knocked over by a truck driver, who some reports say was drunk. Its remains were taken to a museum in Niger’s capital of Niamey, and a metal replica erected in its place.

Bibliography

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“Climate—Niger.” Climates to Travel, www.climatestotravel.com/climate/niger. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Dev, Vi. "Tenere Desert: Where Men In Blue Make All The Rules!" Native Planet, 4 Oct. 2022, www.nativeplanet.com/travel-guide/tenere-desert-location-facts-history-niger-chad-africa-sahara-desert-007207.html. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

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Jennings, Ken. “The Tree of Ténéré: What Happened to the World’s Most Isolated Tree?” Condé Nast Traveler, 29 Apr. 2013, www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-04-29/tree-of-tenere-niger-africa-maphead-ken-jennings. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Joyce, Christopher. “Stone Age Graveyard Unearthed in Sahara.” NPR, 14 Aug. 2008, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93597190. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Stirn, Matt. "Sabu-Jaddi: The Site Revealing the Sahara's Verdant Past." BBC, 7 June 2020, www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200607-sabu-jaddi-the-site-revealing-the-saharas-verdant-past. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.