The Painted Desert. The sunlight gives the desert a variety of beautiful colours.

The Arizona desert is covered with various kinds of cacti which in spring bloom with  beautifully coloured flowers. The cactus family is very large and each kind has a different shape.

The biggest and tallest is the giant Saguaro which can reach 50 feet and lives up to 200 years. In dry weather the giant cactus is very thin, but it becomes fat after the rains.

The water  stored during one season can last for four  years!

There are caves inside the Saguaro with living inhabitants: woodpeckers, small birds and owls.

Another cactus, the Old Man, is so called because it has spines that, when old, look like the grey hair of an old man. It makes greenIsh - white flowers. The Organ Pipe cactus has a lot of branches and looks like a bush. Its fruit is very sweet, and the Indians used to like it very much.

 

 

You can see the Grand Canyon