The Sahara Was Once a Lush Green Savanna
11,000 years ago, hippos and early humans lived across a green, rainy Sahara.
About 11,000 years ago, the Sahara Desert was a verdant landscape with lakes, rivers, and grasslands teeming with hippos, elephants, and early human settlements. A shift in Earth's orbital tilt altered monsoon patterns, gradually turning it into the world's largest hot desert over thousands of years.