The Western Desert, west of the Nile River, is the largest desert in Egypt. Considered a frontier region by the government, the Western Desert is about the size of Texas. This desert has seven important depressions; six are considered oases except the Qattara Depression, which is below sea level and contains salty water. Its plateau, the Jilf al Kabir Plateau, is about 1,000 meters high. No rivers or streams flow into or out of the Western Desert; it's filled with badlands, salt marshes and salt lakes. This desert has been divided into two governorates: Matruh and New Valley.
The uninhabited Black Desert is within the Western Desert. Tourists visit the desert in tour groups to visit Farafra Oasis, Bahariya Oasis, Crystal Mountain and the White Desert. Despite its name, the Black Desert is not as black as expected. It has volcanic-shaped mountains with lots of small black stones. The desert floor is brown-orange ground and also has many black stones. In colonial days, an outpost for the English army was located on a rock dune called the Gebel el-Ingliz. This location has cliffs and beige sand with black basalt throughout.
The Libyan Desert in the Sahara is partly in Egypt and partly in Libya and Sudan. This arid, inhospitable desert has bare, rocky plateaus and sandy plains. Its highest point, Mount Al-Uwaynat, has an elevation of 6,345 feet. Inhabitants are mainly in the Egypt portion of this desert in five oases and one oasis in Libya.
The Sinai Desert in Egypt is home to wild foxes, goats, rodents, gazelles, reptiles and raptors. It has very little rainfall, which evaporates very fast due to the extreme heat. There is fossil evidence in this desert that there was a lot of rainfall some 1.8 million years ago in the Quaternary Era. The Sinai Desert's ecosystem supports several types of plants that have adapted to the harsh conditions. The rocky and mountainous peninsula has sandy stretches of land. In the southern portion of this desert the wind carves small waves into both sides of a large dune.
