What is the lowest point in the Sahara Desert?

The Qattara Depression is the lowest point in the Sahara Desert, reaching about 133 metres below sea level. It lies in northwestern Egypt, west of the Nile Delta.

The depression covers a large area and contains salt marshes, salt pans and sandy stretches. Its floor is far below sea level, but it is not filled by the Mediterranean because a natural ridge separates it from the coast.

The Qattara Depression became strategically important during the Second World War. Its soft salt marshes and steep escarpments made movement difficult, and the depression helped limit the routes available to military forces in the Western Desert campaign.

It is sometimes confused with the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia or Tunisia’s Chott el Djerid. Those are also extremely low, arid landscapes, but the Qattara Depression is the characteristic lowest point associated with the Sahara.