Pins — Bite-Sized Travel Facts

Did you know Chile stretches more than 2,600 miles from top to bottom but averages only about 110 miles wide? That skinny ribbon spans the world's driest desert in the north, glaciers and fjords in the south, and nearly every climate in between. Drive its length and you'll pass through deserts, vineyards, forests and ice.

Did you know the Great Wall of China isn't one wall but a web of them totaling about 13,000 miles? Built and rebuilt over 2,000 years by different dynasties, it winds across mountains and desert. And despite the popular myth, it can't actually be seen from space with the naked eye — it's long, but only a few feet wide.

Did you know Botswana has a giant river that empties into a desert instead of the ocean? The Okavango pours inland and fans out across the Kalahari, forming a lush wetland that draws elephants, lions and hippos right into the sands. When the floodwaters arrive each year, the desert briefly becomes one of Africa's richest oases.

Did you know Saudi Arabia is the largest country on Earth without a single permanent river? Rain arrives so rarely that water runs only briefly through dry valleys called wadis. The kingdom relies heavily on desalinated seawater and ancient aquifers deep beneath the desert to supply its cities.

Did you know the Namib is thought to be the world's oldest desert, arid for something like 55 million years? Its apricot-colored dunes at Sossusvlei are among the tallest anywhere, and nearby Deadvlei holds a ghostly stand of camel thorn trees that died about 700 years ago — too dry to rot, they simply turned black in the sun.

Did you know parts of Chile's Atacama Desert have never recorded a single drop of rain? It's the driest non-polar place on the planet — so Mars-like that NASA tests rovers there. Its clear, dry skies also make it one of the best stargazing spots on Earth.