Niger is divided roughly into three geographic regions: the desert zone in the north, a semi-arid zone in the middle and a small fertile area in the southwest, where flows the Niger River. Its middle region forms part of the Sahel, a semi-arid band of land which runs across Africa, from coast to coast, below the Sahara Desert. The desert landscape is made up of endless stretches of sand dunes that shift in the hot winds and broad plains covered with gravel and stones. Within the Sahara, north of the 17th parallel, the Aïr Mountains rise sharply above the desert floor, at an average altitude between 500 and 900m. They form an island of Sahel climate which supports a wide variety of life, many pastoral and farming communities, and dramatic geological and archaeological sites.
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