Wadi al Hayaa District
Saharan lakes sustaining 200,000 years of human settlement now drain as upstream pumping depletes the aquifer—the Valley of Life becoming the valley of extraction.
Wadi al Hayaa—the Valley of Life—exists because geology created a chain of lakes in the Sahara's heart. The Ubari Sand Sea, one of the Sahara's great ergs, contains roughly two dozen lakes fed by the same Paleozoic aquifer that sustains Murzuq and Kufra. Some are freshwater, some hypersaline, all increasingly threatened by extraction upstream.
The lakes drew early human settlement. Archaeological evidence shows continuous occupation for at least 200,000 years—one of the longest records of human presence in the Sahara. When the desert was wetter, these were substantial bodies of water supporting fishing communities. As climate dried, they shrank to their current state: isolated pools surrounded by palm groves and sand.
The Dawada people—"worm eaters" in Arabic—historically fished the lakes and harvested brine shrimp, a rare protein source in the desert. Their distinctive culture survived into the 20th century before modernization and migration dispersed most of the community. The lakes themselves survive, for now.
Italian colonizers built a fort at Ubari; Gaddafi incorporated the district into the Fezzan administrative structure. The population of roughly 75,000 is predominantly Tuareg, maintaining cross-border connections with kinsmen in Algeria and Niger. After 2011, these borderlands became contested territory between Tuareg and Tebu communities competing for smuggling routes.
By 2026, Wadi al Hayaa faces an ironic death: the Valley of Life's lakes may dry within decades as upstream pumping depletes the aquifer faster than any natural process. A 200,000-year human record could end because coastal cities need drinking water.