Life in the Sahara
Read along or listen to the story, Life in the Sahara.
Goal:
Goal:
Life in the Sahara
by Shari Mueller
Misha was a perfect animal to have in the desert. She had a big hump on her back, and big, wide feet which allowed her to walk on the sand easily. Isha loved Misha’s long eyelashes. They were helpful in keeping sand out of the camel’s eyes. To keep sand out of her nose, Misha was able to close her nostrils! You can see why she was the perfect animal in a desert. But that’s not all! She could drink 25 gallons of water in a few minutes and be ready to go without water or food for many days! This was helpful when Isha’s family was traveling across open desert.
In North Africa, where Isha lived, the nomads face harsh conditions. The winds can come up suddenly and blow the sand into the air causing a sandstorm. It is impossible to travel during a sandstorm, so travelers must stop and wait for the storm to end before going further. During a sandstorm, the wind blows the sand into dunes that are hundreds of feet high and miles long. This means that the desert is always changing on the surface. It is impossible to find your way in the desert if you are depending on things to look the same from one day to the next. Nomads and other desert people all over the world have learned to use nature to tell time and location.One of Isha’s favorite possessions was her sundial. It was a round disk with notches cut into the surface. It also had a stick that could be inserted into the center, that stood up straight. When Isha lined the sundial up properly, she could tell exactly what time it was by where the sun cast the shadow of the stick onto the disk!
You might think that nothing grows in a desert, but that is not true. Where Isha lived, there were many palm trees that grew dates. The people ate the dates raw and ground up the pits to make a drink. Isha used the palm leaves to make baskets. The stems from the leaves made good rope. This is what her family used to carry their wares in. Palm trees need a lot of water to live. That is why they grow where the water is not too far underground. An oasis is a place in the desert where there is water close to the surface of the Earth. It may even bubble up out of the Earth. Palm trees can grow in an oasis. Usually people live in an area such as this, too, because life is much easier when there is water close by. One day, when Isha and her family were traveling through the desert, a sandstorm blew up. “We’ll stop here,” said Papa, as he took the tent off Misha’s back and began to set it up. It was a large tent and was tall enough to stand up in. When it was in place, the family felt safe and protected from the sandstorm raging outside. The floor of the tent was a beautiful woven rug which had come from a country to the northeast of Africa. Mama and Isha had prepared a meal while Papa secured the tent and tied Misha outside. The family sat together on the rug and enjoyed tabouli, a grain dish made with bulghur wheat, olive oil, tomatoes, lemon, mint, and other spices.
The storm raged on, so they decided to sleep. Papa said, “If the storm breaks during the night, we will pack up and leave then.” This was a common situation for the nomads. At night they could tell where they were going by reading the stars. Once, Papa had shown Isha how to tell their direction from the night sky. He showed her the Pole Star, Polaris, and told her that was North. Then he told her the stars made pictures in the sky, called constellations. He knew the name for every one of them! Papa was a very good teacher, for soon, Isha learned to read the night sky, too. She loved to hear the stories about the different constellations which her father would tell when they were sitting around the fire. It was dark when Isha was awakened by her parents. “We shall travel on now that the storm has passed."
"We need to be in Tunis by morning, and we are still a distance from that city,” said Papa as he hurried to pack up their things and load them on Misha’s back. Mama and Isha did their share of the work, and soon the family was heading in the direction of Tunis. Isha loved this city. It was right on a large sea, called the Mediterranean, and lots of people lived there. Although they never stayed very long, it was always fun to visit the marketplace and talk to the people. But what Isha loved the most was swimming in the sea! She always begged Papa to stay longer so she could swim one day more. Sometimes he agreed and they spent an extra day on the beach. It always felt good to have so much water around when they knew how scarce it would be when they entered the desert again. But Isha and her family wouldn’t trade their nomadic lifestyle for anything. They were happy in the desert... it was their home.