Antarctica or Sahara? Which one You Can Survive Easier for 1 Year?

Planning a vacation can be a real pain in the neck, can’t it? Do you want to go somewhere hot or cold? Are you there for some busy days of sightseeing or some quiet rest and relaxation? Sometimes, it’d be nice to just get away from everything and everyone, just take a long break from all of life’s troubles. If that sounds idyllic to you, then maybe you should book your next trip to either the Sahara or Antarctica, each home to two of the largest deserts on the entire planet. There are, however, a few things you should know before you decide to take a trip to either of them; in particular, whether you would make it back alive or not!

Let’s start with the warmer of the two, the Sahara Desert. What makes an area a desert is the lack of rain, snow, mist, or fog that an area experiences. Any region that doesn’t get a whole lot of these various forms of precipitation is generally classified as a desert. While there are numerous different subcategories, including subtropical, coastal, and polar deserts, they all share certain traits. These are usually barren, windswept landscapes that plants, animals, and even us humans have a hard time surviving in.

Considered to be the largest hot desert in the entire world, the Sahara Desert covers a staggering 3,000 miles from east to west, with a total area of over 3 million square miles, making the entire desert almost the same size as China! In fact, you could even fit the entirety of the US in the Sahara Desert and still have some space left over. That’s a lot of desert! Great unless you don’t like sand – after all, it is coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere. Speaking of everywhere, the Sahara fills nearly all of northern Africa, spanning eleven countries in total.

It’s bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to the north are the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains, the Red Sea is over on the east, and in the south is a region called the Sahel, which is where the Sahara Desert transitions into a belt of more humid savannas. Those aren’t the only features of the Sahara Desert, and it's not all just sand either. Perhaps most famously, the Sahara is home to fields of sand dunes, the kind you might often see during long walks in the desert depicted in movies. These dunes are formed when winds move grains of sand, piling them on top of each other until, eventually, a mound starts to form. From these humble beginnings, Saharan sand dunes can sometimes reach almost 600 feet tall, and overall, they cover around a quarter of the entire desert.

However, while you might picture a flat, open plain of sand when you hear the word ’desert,’ you might be surprised to know that most of the Sahara is comprised of barren, rocky plateaus, as well as salt flats, sand dunes, mountains, and dry valleys. The highest peak in the desert is Emi Koussi, a volcano located in the Tibesti Mountains that stands over 3400 meters tall! Other mountains within the desert also include the Aïr Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Adrar des Iforas, Hoggar Mountains, Tibesti Mountains, and the Red Sea Hills. So, you’ve got plenty of sand, a lot of rocks, and not much else to contend with. Living in the Sahara for a year might not exactly be a cake walk now, but if you’d arrived earlier, you might’ve found that to be a different story.

Surprisingly, the Sahara wasn’t always the dry, inhospitable desert we know today. The area now covered in sand used to be completely unrecognizable. It was much greener and home to a variety of plants and animals, covered in lakes, rivers, and even a few forests! However, thousands of years ago, a gradual change took place caused by the tilt of the Earth’s orbital axis. The Sahara Desert often experiences intense periods of humidity followed by drought. The reason for this fluctuation is the result of occasional disruptions to the Earth’s tilt, which changes the angle at which solar radiation penetrates the atmosphere.

This has occurred repeatedly throughout history directing more energy from the Sun at the area of the Sahara during the West African monsoon season when a higher volume of rain falls over Africa. And it was thanks to all this rain that so much Greenery was able to thrive in the Sahara... up until between 8 to 5 thousand years ago. The Sahara went from humid greenery to intensely dry, with some archaeologists pointing to the introduction of humans and domesticated animals into the region as the cause.

When humans brought goats or other cattle into the area, the variety of plants growing there experienced a change as a result. Since plants give off moisture, when animals overgrazed on grass, it lowered the amount of moisture present in the atmosphere since that moisture would have produced clouds, which would then provide the area with coverage when the periods of intense dry heat began. Nomadic folks moving their herds might also have used fire in order to clear paths through the plant life, and this would only have exacerbated the rate at which everything dried out.

However, some believe that the Sahara Desert will eventually return to its former lush, green state at some point in the future, but not for several thousand years. As you probably already know, the Sahara Desert is the hottest desert in the world, possessing one of the harshest climates imaginable. This would definitely impede any attempts to live there for a full year, especially since the desert’s average annual temperature is 86 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s only on average, though, and the heat in the Sahara can easily clock in at much higher temperatures; for example, one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded there was a staggering 136 Fahrenheit. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg… well, the sand dune, anyway. On some days, the temperature of the Saharan sand can exceed 170 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to burn the skin right off your soles if you happen to be walking barefoot!

If you were attempting to survive there, then walking out in the open can be next to impossible. However, it’s during the middle of the day that the heat is at its most intense, whereas in the early morning and late afternoon, the temperature is significantly lower. Another necessity would be keeping cool and regulating your body temperature by taking breaks in any shaded areas you are able to find. Staying in the heat for too long could cause a person to collapse, especially if their body is not acclimatised to such high temperatures. The intense high temperature of the Sahara is only one of the biggest factors that would impede surviving there for longer than a few days. Since becoming a desert, the area has not received anywhere near as much rainfall as when it was in its greener state.

In fact, half of the Sahara Desert receives less than a single inch of rain each year. Although it has changed over time, the prior two thousand years have seen the Sahara’s climate stay fairly stable and consistent – even if it’s consistently hot and dry. Winds coming in from the northeast will strip moisture from the air above the desert, while hot winds are pushed more towards the equator. The desert winds can reach alarming speeds, with the faster rushes kicking up sand and causing severe dust storms. If one of these hits while you are in the Sahara, then your visibility will fall to zero.

The dust from the Sahara would block out everything around you, making navigation nearly impossible. If you think you could just wait it out, then think again. Some bigger sandstorms can go on for as long as 12 whole hours. And with all those fine grains of sand being kicked up, getting caught in a sandstorm can mean that you might choke or have your flesh ripped apart from the sheer speed and force of the sand. Even without a sandstorm blocking your vision, navigating the Sahara is beyond challenging. With no rain, no roads or major landmarks, and nothing but endless sand dunes surrounding you, you would be lucky to find your way back to camp after a stroll through the desert. And that’s just during the day – nightfall brings with it a whole host of other dangers. While we think of the Sahara as having this dry, inhospitable desert climate all day long, it actually gets much colder at night.

Once the sun sets, temperatures can drop dramatically due to the lack of humidity. That might sound like a nightly reprieve from the blistering heat, but the Sahara can often become so cold at night that it becomes just as deadly as when the sun is out. Nights in the Sahara can reach lows of 21 degrees Fahrenheit. For reference, 32 degrees Fahrenheit is when water freezes over. Much like with the heat, everyone’s body has a different tolerance to cold, but when temperatures drop that low – and that rapidly after the highs of the day – it can lead to dangerous consequences. Heat can cause the body to react in certain ways in order to try and prevent hyperthermia, also called heatstroke. That’s why we sweat, it’s our bodies trying to cool themselves down. However, being wet can cause your body to abruptly get colder, and while this might come in handy during a scorching Saharan daytime, it becomes deadly once night arrives.

If your surroundings are colder, you still retain your internal heat, and that temperature difference can cause your sweat to evaporate. This can inhibit your body’s natural ability to regulate its temperature, making it drop rapidly and triggering hypothermia. This slows the chemical processes of the body that usually keep you alive and can eventually cause someone to fall into a coma and die. There are ways to avoid this, however. For one, you could adopt the lifestyle of some of the two million people that live there. Yes, that’s right, people do actually live in the Sahara Desert. Although their population numbers aren’t high for obvious reasons, some of the people living in the desert have established communities near water sources. Predominantly, though, the Sahara is populated by nomads, moving from place to place.

Many choose to travel at night and find shade to sleep under during the day, which is definitely a viable strategy. However, it might not necessarily work for everyone as a perfect survival method. If you were going to attempt to keep warm during the colder nights in the Sahara, then setting up camp close to rocks might help you maintain a warmer campsite. Rocks retain their heat far longer than the sand, so setting up your tent nearer to rocky outcrops could help stave off the lower temperatures while you’re asleep. Additionally, sleeping in several thin layers of clothing, as well as using a tent and sleeping bag, will prevent additional heat loss overnight. Of course, one of the biggest problems when traveling across the Sahara is dehydration.

Although the cold nights in the desert can cause snow to occasionally fall on mountain ranges, this doesn’t happen anywhere else in the Sahara. Water is scarce across the entire region, however, two rivers run through it: the River Nile and the Niger River. There are also at least twenty lakes in the desert, but these are not exactly the best options if you are looking for drinking water. For one, they are saltwater, with Lake Chad being the only freshwater lake in the desert. So, unless you have the necessary items to filter out that salt, then you will not be able to drink any of the water from these lakes. That’s if any of these lakes are even around during your year-long ordeal in the Sahara, because these are seasonal lakes, meaning they dry up depending on the seasons.

Human beings can only survive for a few days without water, which is one of the primary reasons why the nomadic peoples living in the Sahara keep moving constantly. You could, theoretically, survive in the Sahara for a while, but only if you had access to some consistent means of hydration. Carrying water bottles with you is one way to achieve this, but of course, that’s only a finite amount of water, and the weight of it will slow you down. Still, it’s better than having none available at all, as getting stranded in the Sahara with no water would be a death sentence for even the most experienced adventurer.

Electrolyte tablets or sports drinks can also be used to replace minerals and salts that the body needs to function, but above all, staying hydrated is the single most important rule of surviving in the Sahara – or any desert, for that matter. Having plenty of water, even if you had no food, and ways to protect yourself from the daytime heat and the cold at night, you could probably survive for between two to four weeks. This is, of course, dependent on a number of factors, including how you adapt to the harsh conditions of the desert. The Sahara Desert is not a place for the faint of heart. Lasting that many weeks would be a grueling experience, even for the most determined survivors. Acclimating to the terrain and intense heat often takes months or even years of preparation.

Your survival during a year in the Sahara can also depend on how fit or knowledgeable you are, along with your determination to survive and how much you are willing to endure walking long distances. Those are just the factors that come internally from yourself. It also depends on how much water you have with you, how much water you are able to gather, as well as the provisions and equipment you have on hand. With, at minimum, a sleeping bag, flashlight, various survival essentials, food, and plenty of water, you have a good chance of surviving. The key is to not stay in one place, keep an eye on your body temperature, and maintain awareness of the desert around you.

Now, when most of us think of a desert, we’re likely to picture the Sahara – or other places very similar to it – complete with sand dunes rippling in the warm wind and scorching hot temperatures from the relentless sunlight. But remember what we said earlier: a desert is defined by the amount of precipitation it receives, it’s not necessarily somewhere that’s hot and sandy. So, how about a desert that’s freezing cold and icy instead: Welcome to Antarctica. Hiding at the southern pole of our planet, Antarctica is considered to be one the most mysterious places in the entire world. It’s a cold continent covered completely in ice. In fact, Antarctica has up to 90 percent of all the freshwater on Earth stored in its ice sheet. Any yes, even though it contrasts with the Sahara, being a cold, icy place, Antarctica is actually also a desert. The continent actually gets less annual rainfall than the Sahara desert, reaching only 10 millimeters on average over the last 30 years. Antarctica is classified as a polar desert, and the ice covering it took around 45 million years to reach its current thickness, thanks to how little rainfall the region receives. As well as being one of the driest continents on Earth, Antarctica is also the coldest.

The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was logged in Antarctica in August of 2010, plummeting to the unfathomably frigid temperature of -135 degrees Fahrenheit or -93 degrees Celsius. This reading was detected taken via a NASA satellite as part of an effort to locate the coldest area on the planet. There are actually a number of these lower-than-freezing cold areas in Antarctica, mainly at high elevations. Temperatures that low are certainly not conducive to human survival, especially for extended periods, like, say, if you wanted to try and survive there for a year… Although it might be hard to imagine, much like the Sahara once being full of plant life, Antarctica wasn’t always the frozen continent it is now. At one point in time, an estimated 50 million years ago, Antarctica was almost as warm as the city of Melbourne, Australia, today. According to researchers, the temperatures across Antarctica used to reach the low 60s in Fahrenheit. Fossils recovered from beneath the ice also indicate the continent was once home to large forests inhabited by dinosaurs.

However, the Antarctic Peninsula is warming up again, and this isn’t any cause for celebration. Heating more rapidly than most other areas on Earth, the average temperatures across the Peninsula have only increased over the past 50 years by nearly 40 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s good news for anyone trying to survive a year on the frozen continent but bad news for the rest of us as that’s five times the average temperature increase elsewhere on the planet. While the Sahara has a modest population of its nomadic inhabitants, Antarctica is actually the least populated continent in the world. People can’t actually live in Antarctica, there are no townships or cities anywhere. There is usually a population of at least one thousand people present during the winter and up to four thousand in the summer months, but the vast majority of these people are researchers working in the numerous scientific stations on the mainland. These researchers are often studying the animals that live in Antarctica, as well as observing the effects of climate change on the ice sheet.

While some tourists do travel to the icy continent, this is only for short visits. Researchers also never tend to be there for long given the extremely cold conditions, and are normally stationed there for a single year. The main reason nobody lives there full-time is the low temperatures. Even in the warmer area of Antarctica, there are no clouds and no wind. An average person would, in all likelihood, only survive for a few hours, and that’s only if they had plenty of warm food and hot drinks on their person. Nearer to the coasts, where the temperature drops to below freezing, most people would find themselves developing hypothermia in less than an hour. This could cause them to die within two or three hours. So, that might make it seem like just avoiding the coast and staying inland would give you better odds for a year’s worth of survival. But even in the Antarctic summer, temperatures inland are around -4 Fahrenheit, meaning you would likely develop extensive frostbite within ten minutes. This would also likely lead to hypothermia and death within thirty minutes.

In winter, it’d be far worse, with temperatures dropping even further with the addition of no sunlight reaching the continent. This would fast-track that frostbite, letting it take hold after only five short minutes. Once again, hypothermia and death would arrive soon afterwards. When it comes down to the question of which is worse, it all depends on which you would rather endure. Living in the Sahara for a year would mean contending with intense dry heat during the day and needing to stay hydrated and regulate your body temperature just to stay alive. Not to mention making sure you keep warm at night to stave off the potentially life-threatening consequences of the rapid decline in temperature.

But all that being said – while both are inhospitable deserts, it’s likely that your chances of surviving for a year would be higher if you were in the middle of the Sahara rather than the cold plains of the Antarctica.