Natural environment Tropical deserts have a high diurnal range of temperature as the sky is cloudless which favors the passage of insulation in day time and out going radiation from the earth in the night. Rainfall is scanty and is less than 25 cm. Soil is sandy and hence vegetation consists of thorny bushes and scrubs. Date palm and cactus are common. Camel is the ship of the desert. Human response (i) the people are nomads and lead a migratory life, for example, the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, Bedouins of Sahara and Arabia, Aborigines of Australia. They are nomadic herders and live in tents. Their belongings are few.
(ii) In the river valley and oasis people are engaged in agriculture, e.g., the Nile valley in Africa and the Imperial valley in California.
(iii) Drilling of mineral oil has led to rapid economic development in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, etc.