8 Secret Places in Deserts Every Traveler Is Eager to Find

Deserts occupy one third of the world’s land surface. They’re full of surprises: immense ships, treasures, and even entire cities. Yet some findings are so strange and astonishing that they seem to have no explanation at all.

FunnyModo collected for you 8 unusual things that were found in deserts.

A Texas desert — Prada store

There’s a Prada store installation in the middle of a Texas desert, aimed to check how the store would look far from civilization. Its shelves are filled with expensive bags, jewelry, and designer shoes. It was robbed the day after it opened, so now it’s equipped with reinforced locks and shatterproof windows, and the goods took their shelves again.

The Arizona desert — Giant arrow

In the Arizona desert, you can see huge 20-meter stone arrows. For many years, local residents have tried to unravel their origins, building the most daring theories. In fact, the signs were established in 1911. Before GPS and Google maps, they helped mail planes navigate and deliver parcels to the West Coast.

The Mojave Desert — Phone booth

In the Mojave Desert, a phone booth was installed in 1960. It’s 13 km away from the nearest road, meant for mine workers and those who got lost. Yet it became especially popular among tourists. Someone named Rick Carr spent 32 days near the booth and answered 500 calls, including one from the Pentagon. In 2000, due to the accumulation of garbage and vandalism, the booth was demolished. Now we can see it only in the movies.

Eastern Egypt — “The Desert Breath”

This strange installation in eastern Egypt, created in 1997 by Greek artists, resembles a UFO base. It’s located far from civilization and covers an area of 100,000 sq.m. “The Desert Breath” is believed to embody the infinity of sandy paths.

The New Mexico desert — Video game stash

In 1980, the well-known company Atari produced so many items that the warehouses were simply filled with unclaimed video games and consoles. They decided to bury these “treasures” somewhere in the desert. The stash with thousands of perfectly preserved video games, consoles, and collector’s editions was found only in 2014. All of it was sold on eBay for good money.

The Atacama Desert — “The Hand of the Desert”

In the Atacama Desert in north Chile, a huge 11-meter arm sticks out from under the ground. It was built in 1992 as a symbol of the vulnerability and helplessness of a man sinking in the sands. You can even see the hand on Google maps.

The Mojave Desert — Secret pool

One resourceful Austrian artist built an elite swimming pool in the Mojave Desert. Anyone can swim in the cold water in the midst of a hot desert, but it’s not easy to find this pool: there are no landmarks nearby, and Google maps doesn’t show its location.

Egyptian sands — Libyan glass

Libyan glass is the rarest mineral on Earth and can only be found in the sands of Egypt. The pendant found in the tomb of Tutankhamun was made of it. Scientists haven’t yet revealed the story of its formation, but one of the versions says that 28 million years ago a huge meteorite fell into the desert. Its temperature melted the sand, and the wind scattered the liquid mixture all over the desert.

Preview photo credit David Fulmer