Eighteen lakes sitting in the open Sahara where under 2 mm of rain falls a year, which should be impossible. They survive on an aquifer charged during the wet millennia when the desert was green, and they are split into three groups: six at Ounianga Kébir, Lake Motro on its own, and eleven at Ounianga Sérir. The clever part is the plumbing. The Kébir lakes are saline, but most of the Sérir lakes stay fresh, because Lake Teli evaporates fastest and sits lowest, so it pulls the salt toward itself and leaves its neighbours drinkable. UNESCO listed 628 square kilometres of it in 2012. Ennedi Ouest, Chad.
Ounianga, Chad
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