Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves

Declared in 1988 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991 — though on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 1992 because of regional insecurity — the Aïr and Ténéré Reserves form the largest protected area in Africa and one of the largest in the world, combining the volcanic Aïr massif with the Ténéré, one of the most hyper-arid environments on the planet. It is one of the last refuges of the addax, a desert antelope on the very brink of extinction in the wild, with a world population estimated at barely a hundred animals.