Located in Northwest Africa, Algeria covers an area of 2.38 million square kilometers. It is the second largest country in Africa and the tenth largest country in the world. With 1,200 kilometers of Mediterramean coastline, Algeria is bordered by Moroco, Western Sahara and Mauritania to the West, Mali and Niger to the South, and Tunisia and Libya to the East. The Sahara desert which cover 90% of the country's area is rich in minerals, gas, and oil. Algeria offers a wide variety of terrain ranging from snowy mountain forests to Saharan sand dunes. Spectacular bays with long sandy beaches flank the Algerian coast line. In the interior, the countryside varies from forest-clad mountains with a west east orientation to fertile agricultural plains to the impressive canyons and oasis dotted austerity of the true Sahara.