Taurus Desert

Today Will and I went to the Taurus Mountains sometimes called the Toros Mountains a mountain complex in southern Turkey. Will decided to go mountain climbing and hiking on some of the many trails. I decided to go skiing with some other friends at one of the ski resorts. The Taurus Mountains are less then 750 kilometers.

Rub al-Khali Desert

Rub al-Khali is where we went today. It means the Empty Quarter in English. It covers 250,000 sq. mi. Summer temperatures can get as high as 131 degrees Fahrenheit. It has sand dunes over 1100 ft. I'm glad we brought plenty of water because it barley ever rains.

Syrian Desert

Hey it's Caleb and Will but this time in the Syrian Desert also known as the Syro-Arabian desert. Will found out that it combines steppe and true desert. It covers 200,000 miles, and its landscape is formed by lava flows! At the end of the day Will and I went over to the fertile crescent on the north side of the desert.

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Today when we went to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers we saw water buffalo, endemic rodents, antelopes, and gazelles. Areas around these rivers are very fertile. It has a subtropical climate. These rivers have 52 native fish species so we are thinking about going fishing. They are mainly in Iraq.

Persian Gulf

We went to the Persian Gulf today. Lots of crabs live there and eat the mangroves that grow there. The Persian Gulf is the world's largest single source of crude oil. The Middle Eastern countries form a semicircle around it. We went snorkeling around the many coral reefs that are found there and it was really fun. We tried to find some pearl oysters that are supposed to be abundant there but we had no luck.

The Jordan River

Today we visited the Jordan River. It is 156 miles long and considered to be one of the world's most sacred rivers. The mouth of the Jordan River is the Dead Sea which we just visited. It runs along the border of Israel and Jordan. It has two major tributaries, the Yarmouk River and Jabbok River.

The Dead Sea

Last week Caleb and I went to the Dead Sea. It is really weird to swim in it because you don't sink. You don't sink because it has a very high salt level. In fact it is the saltiest lake in the world. The suface of the lake lies 1,385 feet below sea level making it the lowest point on any continent. It is called the Dead Sea because little life is found in it, only bacteria lives in it. At 1,240 feet deep it is the world's deepest hypersaline lake.