Panorama taken south of the Atlas Mountains, east of Tinehir. Hamada is the Berber word for a stony monotonous desert, I have stitched together four photos to get this wide image.
A stony hamada in Morocco,g where some flowers have succeded to grow among the sand in the foreground. The High Atlas mountains in the background
Mirage outside Merzouga, Morocco
Mirage in Sahara. Notice how the buildings seem to reflect in the layer of superheated air above the desert. There is of course no water, just sand.
Mirage in an oasis in Sahara. Again, there is no water in front of the palm trees, just a reflection caused by the heat gradient
Mirage in Sahara just before we arrived at the Dra Valley in southwest Morocco.
A lonely tree in an oasis in the stone and sand desert between Mharch Oasis and Draa Valley. Sahara, Morocco along the Algerian border
An equally lonely tree on the Namibian steppe between Solitaire and Sesriem, Namibia
Sunrise in clouds over the steppe at Wolvedans, Namibia. The effect of the sunrays is called a Jacob's ladder. I have captured it many times, but it is unusual to have it both at the top and bottom of the cloud
Lightning has just struck the steppe and created a burning ring that is spreading,. Behind the fire the rain is still falling, lit by the setting sun
The ring of fire, Wolvedans, Namibia
...and another evening the setting sun is causing the whole sky to be on fire. Wolvedans, Namibia
Hot air balloon over Namibia. The "pockmarks" are areas free from grass in the steppe, maybe because ants have had their homes there and killed the grass with their excrements
The steppe of Wolvedans caught in a fish-eye lens. Notice the shadow of the balloon in the middle of the picture.
Oryxes running across the steppe gives a sense of scale to the "pockmarks" in the ground
Abstract art out of nature. The diagonal pattern is a track made by cars driving across the steppe.
Landing in the Wolvedans steppes after a beautiful morning
Steppe in Mongolia, between Bayanzag and Tsagan Survaga
And a similar but even more monotonous landscape between Ongi and Khongoryn Els, Gobi Deseert, Mongolia. Notice the round Ger in the background to the right, where the seminomadic local people were living
A mirage in Mongolia between Ongi and Khongoryn Els in the Gobi desert. Mirages are caused by a substantial temperature gradient just above the sand or gravel of the desert. The gradient causes light to reflect in the layer above the desert and shimmer
The dry earth cracks and offers the opportunity of an abstract image. Khongoryn Els, Gobi Desert, Mongolia
The earth has cracked in a similar way in a dry river bed in Namibia at Soussusvlei
...and in Argentina near the border to Chile. Desierto del Laberinto, Argentina
Before we reached the high altitude desert we had a semi-desert landscape with cacti and small bushes. This is a valley before Molinos at 2,200m altitude
Sunrise over Carachi Pampa near El Penon, Argentina. Carachi Pampa vocano to the right and Campo de Piedra Pomes to the left. 3,100m alt
Carachi Pampa salt flat at sunrise. Carachi Pampa volcano to the right. The image is captured less than half an hour after the previous image and they are not far from each other
Laguna Antofagasta at sunset. Antofagasta Volcano in the background, near El Penon, Argentina
Laguna Antofagasta at sunset
Volcanic stone and puna grass. Photo at sunrise near El Penon. Here the stone ground is volcanic and support only a little puna grass. Altitude: 3,600m
Sunset nr El Penon, Argentina
The colourful ground is caused by volcanic activity near El Penon. 3,200m altitude
Ignimbrite rock with gravel in the foreground. The ignimbrite rocks are formed in volcanic explosions and then thrown with enormous power into the air and down the sides of the volcano. The image is at an altitude of 4,400m near the Galan Crater in the Andes, Argentina
The puna near Laguna Grande, 4,700m alt. Not much can grow at these altitudes. It is very cold, even at daytime and difficult to breathe.
We are looking down into the Galan Volcano from its rim at 4,800m altitude. We drove down into the volcano on a road so steep that we couldn't believe it.
To the right is the Salar de Antofalla (the salt flats of Antofalla) and the white you can see is salt, not snow.
Crossing the altiplano near Antofalla in Argentina. Alt: 4,300m.
The level of snow increased as we came closer to Tolar Grande. 4,000 m.
Between Antofalla and Tolar Grande, Argentina. 3,800m alt.
You can see the puna grass underneath the windswept snow with a snow storm threatening us to the east (right in the picture). 4,200m alt.
We have descended to 3,800m altitude, but the snow is still deep and cover all tracks
A lonely vicuna on the altiplano near Laguna Blanca, Argentina
Legend tells us that Ojos del Mar are connected to the sea, but the lake is at 3,500 m altitude. The blue colour is created by minerals in the lake
Sunset at Tolar Grande, Argentina
Laguna Colorada, Bolivia. The foreground shore is covered by salt.The red colour of the lake is caused by mineral deposits. The snow in the background on the mountains is actually snow. 4,300m alt.
Flamingos at Laguna Colorada. 4,300m
There were no roads in the Bolivian desert, just tracks sweeping gracefully down to the lake on the left.
Salar de Arizaro, Argentina, 3,500m alt. This is a large salt lake near Tolar Grande and the Chilean border
This is the same Salar but further south and with a massive volcano rising elegantly above the salt flat. Notice the dirty, uneven character of the salt flat, very different for the following pictures
This is Salinas Grandes consisting of pure sodium chloride that crystallizes into the pentagonal and heaxagonal shapes you can see here
Salar de Uyuni, Boliva. The largest salt flats in the world at 3,700m alt. Photo at midday. Notice that at certain directions you cannot see any land at the horizon because the earth curves
I am preparing for a sunset photo of the Tunupa Volcano at the northern end of the salt flats. We had driven with our car the whole day across the flats to reach the volcano. Photo: Sebastian de Val
Tunupa Volcano at sunset. 3,700m alt.
Tunupa Volcano, Salar de Uyuni. Late in the evening the sun is still lighting up the top of the volcano. And close to land the Salar has formed a little pool of water in which Tunupa is reflected.
Sunrise over Isla Incahuasi, Salar de Uyuni. Captured with an 8mm 180 degrees lens with the sun just risen to the left. We stayed overnight near Tunupa volcano and drove out to the island before sunrise the next morning
A couple of hours later we climbed up on the island itself and walked cautiously among the cacti and volcanic stones. Isla Incahuasi in the Salar de Uyuni. 3,700m alt.
Hamada is originally an Arabic word for a type of desert landscape with gravel or stones or rock plateaus with very little sand, because the sand has been removed by the wind. It is the opposite of Ergs or sand dunes.
When the precipitation increases, a little grass can begin to grow on the ground. This landscape is often called a steppe. Steppes are found in southeast Europe, Siberia, parts of inner Asia and North America. Steppes are too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert. The Eurasian grass-steppe of temperate grasslands, savannahs and scrublands had an important role in the spread of the horse, the wheel and the Indo-European languages. Along this steppe the Mongolian invasion led by Genghis Khan and his successors took place in the 12th and 13th centuries. The steppe stretches from Hungary in the west to Mongolia in the east.
Puna is the grassland in South America at high altitude in the rain shadow of the Andes from northern Peru to northern Argentina. The desert puna is dominated by huge salt lakes and the special grass types growing in the high altitude regions.
I have a couple of images covering mirages from both the Sahara and Gobi Deserts. They are created by the sun heating up the ground, so that the air immediately above becomes much hotter than surrounding air. That causes an inversion layer to form just above the ground level and this layer reflects the light rays causing a mirror effect. I must admit that until I started to travel around the deserts, I wasn’t aware that they could be photographed but I got several opportunities during my travels.
The desert landscape of the hamadas and steppes is monotonous. To capture the monotony of the landscape and still be honest to the beauty of it is a difficult balancing act. You, the viewers of my images, have to judge if I have succeeded. In South America the landscape is more colourful and even the puna and salt flats shows a lot of variety. The high altitude semi-deserts and deserts in South America comprised some of the most beautiful landscapes imaginable.
