Taribeland

Taribeland is a vast desert on the northeastern coast of the Veldt. The region consists of a large and impenetrable coastal desert, and a series of salt pans and seasonal marshes inland. In the Tarib Desert, sand dunes stretch from horizon to horizon, and the land is almost completely barren. The Tarib is completely unpopulated; however, various native tribes eke out a living on the seasonal marshes known as the Bamide Oasis and on the dry coasts of the Karondela Mountains.
The coast of Taribeland is notorious as the site of many shipwrecks. Some of these wrecked ships can be found as much as a hundred yards inland, as the desert slowly moves westwards into the sea. It has been claimed by many sea captains that it is better for your ship to sink that to be cast away on the Tarib Desert, as drowning is a quicker and better death than dying of thirst.
On the coast the upwelling of the cold ocean current gives rise to dense ocean fogs for much of the year. It is these fogs that make the passage of the Tarib coast so treacherous for sailors. The winds blow from land to sea, rainfall rarely exceeds a half an inch annually and the climate is highly inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf on the beaches. It is possible for a boat to get ashore through the surf, but impossible to launch from the shore.
The coast, which is studded with the skeletons of whales and seals, is largely soft sand occasionally interrupted by rocky outcrops. The first seventy miles or so of the desert, starting at the coast, is made up of enormous sand dunes, hundreds of miles long and over a thousand feet high, lined up one after the other parallel to the shore. Beyond these dunes lies a rocky desert that extends all the way to the escarpments around 400 miles inland. This area is mostly flat, although a few rocky ridges extend into the desert from the escarpment. While most of the soil is rocky, sand dunes are still occasionally found in this region.
The few dry riverbeds that run through the inland parts of the desert are home to baboons, giraffes, lions, black rhinoceros, ostriches, oryxes, and springbok. The animals get most of their water from wells dug by the baboons or elephants. Meerkats and lizards can be found in the rockier elevations. Jackals are the primary predators, but the occasional pride of lions are also found.
Category:Locations on The Veldt
Category:Deserts
Category:Locations