# What is this I'm looking at in Africa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829 "2006-02-23T18:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/1 "2006-02-23T18:57:35Z")
This caught my eye as I was looking at a Google Maps satellite picture of Africa: Strange desert installation Does anybody know what this is? It’s in eastern Libya - zoom out to see exactly where. If you zoom in the whole thing starts looking like a colored-pencil drawing - especially the hexagonal shapes on the left. So does this appear to be some sort of attempt at taking back the desert for agricultural purposes? The circular shapes are reminiscent of the circular irrigation patterns I see around here. Or maybe I’ve stumbled upon some super-secret military installation and now I’m going to have Libyan commandos on my tail. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/2 "2006-02-23T19:16:02Z")
Circular -irrigation agriculture and oil tank farms are the first two things that come to mind. But maybe it’s the start of the Master Hive Installation by our new Apian Overlords. \ ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/3 "2006-02-23T19:20:03Z")
The hexagonal shapes to the left look like solar panel installations, like in the popcorn movie _Sahara_. The circular things are obviously alien landing pads. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/4 "2006-02-23T19:50:41Z")
The circles are huge, judging by the size of the airstrip off to the left. The hexagons have a vague military appearance (they look a bit like air defense sites, with missles/guns spaced around a central radar/control system, but aren’t sited properly to actually be this), and the odd small circular sites at the end of the short tracks leading off the main roads are also military looking (closer to the airfield I might guess that they were aircraft dispersal shelters). If they are military, I have no idea what they might be, but the layout is typical of military installations. And also of other highly organized and controlled installations, of course. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/5 "2006-02-23T19:57:53Z")
The hexagons are pre-circles. ---
**Author:** ![al129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6de8d8/32.png) [@al129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al129)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/6 "2006-02-23T19:58:52Z")
probably something like that: [http://home.fujifilm.com/efa/photo/photo\_l/079.jpg](http://home.fujifilm.com/efa/photo/photo_l/079.jpg) … or wmd’s … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![al129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6de8d8/32.png) [@al129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al129)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/7 "2006-02-23T20:00:05Z")
> [@al129](#): > > probably something like that: > [http://home.fujifilm.com/efa/photo/photo\_l/079.jpg](http://home.fujifilm.com/efa/photo/photo_l/079.jpg) > … or wmd’s … 🙂 taken from this GREAT website: [www.earthfromabove.com](http://www.earthfromabove.com) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/8 "2006-02-23T20:01:01Z")
Right - the circles appear to be about 1 kilometer across. This whole installation is big enough that I noticed it with the map zoomed out quite a bit. There appears to be a very large oasis there on the left, which makes me think “agriculture”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/9 "2006-02-23T20:33:24Z")
I say agriculture, too. On some of the circles you can clearly see a dark, straight line running from the exact center to the outer edge; I’d guess that this is the irrigation mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/10 "2006-02-23T20:35:09Z")
WAG the hexagons are just like the circles except the farm land is operated by multiple owners so they need to make access roads so people can get to their farmland. Going one step further into speculation, perhaps the hexagons are food farms, and the circles are cash crop farms. ---
**Author:** ![pikolo77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@pikolo77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pikolo77)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/11 "2006-02-23T20:45:51Z")
What we’re looking at here is the city of Al Kufrah, Libya. It is host to the Great Man Made River (GMMR) project to bring water to the towns of Sarir and Al Kufrah. It’s being used for cattle, growing cerals and other cool stuff now. [http://countrystudies.us/libya/63.htm](http://countrystudies.us/libya/63.htm) -sometimes this webpage is down. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/12 "2006-02-23T20:45:53Z")
You can see circle crops like this when you fly over Eastern Washington state where I’m from. The land is too dry to grow things naturally, so you have to obviously irrigate the water in. An effective way to do this is to create a circle wit ha single long “arm” of an irrigator that slowly rotates throughout the day, watering the entire circle as it goes. I’m sure other dry areas in the US use similar methods. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/13 "2006-02-23T21:16:06Z")
Meanwhile, what’s the long white streak off to the right a bit? It seems to be perfectly straight, and terrain features show through it to some degree. It also seems to end abruptly on the left end at a picture seam. I’m thinking a data artifact of some sort, but I’m not sure what. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/14 "2006-02-23T21:28:44Z")
The circular patterns are obviously centre-pivot irrigation fields. The dark lines in the hexagonal arrangments appear to be roads; I wonder if the hexagons might just be a novel streetplan for a housing development. ---
**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/15 "2006-02-23T21:31:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Meanwhile, what’s the long white streak off to the right a bit? It seems to be perfectly straight, and terrain features show through it to some degree. It also seems to end abruptly on the left end at a picture seam. I’m thinking a data artifact of some sort, but I’m not sure what. It kind of looks like a black line drawn on a negative, but satelite images don’t have negatives, do they? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/16 "2006-02-23T21:39:08Z")
Welcome Al-Jawf, Libya. World’s largest petri dish. Another vote for circular irrigation fields in the largest oasis in the region. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/17 "2006-02-24T00:22:02Z")
**Chronos** , a WAG would be that it’s a jet contrail that was caught in just that one frame of the montage. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/18 "2006-02-24T01:26:39Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > You can see circle crops like this when you fly over Eastern Washington state where I’m from. The land is too dry to grow things naturally, so you have to obviously irrigate the water in. An effective way to do this is to create a circle wit ha single long “arm” of an irrigator that slowly rotates throughout the day, watering the entire circle as it goes. I’m sure other dry areas in the US use similar methods. I live in Eastern Washington right now, which is why I guessed it was agriculture. But our “crop circles” here are laid out in more of a square grid rather than the honeycomb arrangement seen in those satellite photos, so I said, “Hmmm …”. > [@Chronos](#): > > Meanwhile, what’s the long white streak off to the right a bit? It seems to be perfectly straight, and terrain features show through it to some degree. It also seems to end abruptly on the left end at a picture seam. I’m thinking a data artifact of some sort, but I’m not sure what. Yah, I think that’s just a defect in the photograph. It actually doesn’t end abuptly - if you zoom in far enough you can see it fades out to the right. > [@pikolo77](#): > > What we’re looking at here is the city of Al Kufrah, Libya Thanks for the answer! I’ll check out your link. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/19 "2006-02-24T02:16:12Z")
Here’s what the circular irrigation looks like near where I live. This is Moses Lake, WA, not far from where I am in Wenatchee. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/20 "2006-02-24T02:57:23Z")
As **pikilo77** mentioned, it’s part of Libya’s [Great Manmade River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Manmade_River) (GMR or GMMR) project. Although some of the circles are Center Pivot Irrigation Machines (and the radial arms are visible from the air), most of them are simple circular reservoirs for water. The al-Kufrah basin has an aquifer with substantial underground water reserves, and the GMR supplies this water to cities as far away as Tripoli (1300km away). [Here](http://www.galenfrysinger.com/man_made_river_libya.htm) is a site with further details, including a photo of one of the 1km-diameter reservoirs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829.md?page=2)