Western Sahara is an area in North Africa bordering the Atlantic Ocean, between Mauritania and Morocco. Its governance is disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), but the majority of it is occupied by Morocco.

Western Sahara's inhabitants, known as Sahrawis, are of Arab and Berber ethnicity and speak the Hassānīya dialect of Arabic.

Western Sahara has a hot desert climate, with tropical dry weather all year-round similar to Dubai. The interior of the territory has short, extremely warm winters but long, extremely hot summers. During summertime, daytime temperatures soar to 45°C (113°F) with blazing sunshine, but don't feel so hot in the (usually non-existent) shade because of the very low humidity. The weather is nearly always the same : hot, sunny and dry. Rainfall is extremely scarce. Nights cool off quickly because of the lack of insulating cloud cover and can be cool with lows in single figures (< 50°F). Near to the Atlantic coast, light fogs can be generated by warm, moisture laden winds from the Atlantic Ocean, meeting the cooler early morning air from the desert.