Tabernas Desert

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Tabernas Desert
A view of the desert
Tabernas Desert Location in Spain Show map of Spain Tabernas Desert Location in Europe Show map of Europe
Area	280 km2 (110 sq mi)
Naming
Native name	Desierto de Tabernas (Spanish)
Geography
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Andalusia
Province	Almería
Population center	Tabernas
Coordinates	37°00′N 2°27′W / 37°N 2.45°W / 37; -2.45

The Tabernas Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Tabernas) is a desert located within Spain's south-eastern province of Almería. It is in the interior, about 30 kilometers (19 mi) north of the provincial capital Almería, in the Tabernas municipality in Andalusia.^[1] It is the only desert in Europe, since most of its area has a desert climate.^[2]

Due to its high elevation and mountainous location, it has slightly higher annual precipitation (more than 220 mm (8.7 in) per year), and lower annual average temperature (temperatures below 17.9 °C (64.2 °F)) than coastal areas of Almeria. It is a nature reserve (protected area) that spans 280 square kilometers (110 square miles).

• 
  The desert of Tabernas.
• 
  View of the Badlands on the Granada Plateau.
• 
  Somewhere in the Tabernas Desert. January 2017.

The Tabernas Desert is located between the Sierra de los Filabres to the north, the Sierra Alhamilla to the south-southeast and the Sierra Nevada to the west. Part of the desert belongs to the Sierra Alhamilla (with lush vegetation composed of a forest of holm oaks and reforestation of woodland pines, with a great biological diversity: thyme, fig trees, oleander, herons, peregrine falcons, eagles, owls, foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits, hares, lizards, snakes...).