The mightiest river in a desert is the Nile. Captured in 2004, this is the oldest digital photo that I have on my website
But the most impressive river is of course in the US. The Colorado river has cut a canyon nearly a thousand metres deep, and we cannot see the river itself only the canyon. The frst sunrays have just hit the top of the mountains at Yavapai Point. Grand Canyon, Arizona, 2009. Photographed from the South Rim
Hopi Point at sunset. Grand Canyon, Arizona
Colorado River doubles back on itself at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona. The canyon walls are 300 metres high and two small boats can bee seen beached on the promontory in the middle. The image was taken from a rock ledge shooting out over the river (see next photo)
I am positioned a thousand feet above the Colorado River to take the previous photo of Horeshoe Bend. Afterwards I wonder how I dared to get out on the sloping ledge
Lake Powell in Utah was formed when the Hoover Dam was built in 1963 and Glen Canyon was flooded. It took seventeen years to fill up the lake and now the water level has depleted again due to droughts
Lower Calf Creek Falls near Escalante, Utah
The Wire Pass is a narrow and short slot canyon, only around 3 km long. This image shows the exit from the canyon. Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area, Utah
Upper Antelope Canyon is another narrow slot canyon with small shafts of light shining down into the canyon. The dry riverbed consists of sand that has eroded from the canyon walls. Near Page, Arizona
The sandstone reflects the light in a variety of colours and in combination with the sculpturing of the walls, caused by the water flows, this leads to an abstract beauty
Upper Antelope Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
Cathedral Rock reflected in Oak Creek. Sedona, Arizona
The river coming down the south side of the Atlas mountains is fed by the melting snow on the mountain tops. View from the Agadir, the fortified granary, at the top of Ait Benhaddou. The river valley supports a lot of plantations, but further afield the desert landscape is barren
The Todra river gorge on the southern side of the High Atlas Mountains is now depleted of water, but has still succeeded in carving out a substantial canyon in the mountains
Further down the Todra Gorge has a trickle of water running through it.
Sesriem Canyon, Namibia
At the northern end of Namibia towards the border with Angola, the Himba people live. The landscape is still very dry but along the Kunene River, the border between Namibia and Angola, there are lots of water and vegetation. This is the Epupa falls captured at sunset. Exposure time 1.6 sec
The canyon brought this little stream down and further down it passed the town of Iruya in northwest Argentina. We are at an altitude of 2,800 metres
Further down the valley towards Iruya. Captured as the first sunrays hit the mountainside to the west and the town of Iruya with its church is seen at the bottom with the street lights still turned on. The text on the mountainside says: "Bienvenidos a Iruya"
Salar de Pocitos with a creek flowing through the Salar in Argentina. 3,700m alt. Jennifer was dressed in contrasting red, creating a focal point for my image. The blue and green creek gets its colours from different minerals in the water.
The largest desert river in the world is the Nile. Jennifer and I visited it in 2004 as part of a holiday together with two of my older children, Susanne and Ulrika. That was before digital cameras had developed that far. I have included one photo from the Nile, which is the oldest photo I have on my web site.
But if the Nile is the largest desert river, the Colorado River is by far the most spectacular, with Grand Canyon and the steep sides of the Horseshoe Bend. The sandstone in the Colorado Plateau is easily eroded and flash floods can cause storm floods that can create slot canyons. They are normally dry to be suddenly filled with water after a rain fall. Photos from the slot canyons resembles abstract art.
South of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, even dry river beds can create oases, as underneath the dry bed water is still running and can sustain vegetation, plantations and palm trees. And in Todra the river had cut out a gorge in the soft stone nearly as impressive as in the Colorado Plateau. In Argentina, cracks in the salt flats created streams full of minerals colouring them in dramatic pigments against the white salt.
