The hottest place in the world is enormously dangerous and temperatures can reach almost 60C.
Death Valley is in the Mojave Desert in California. It is believed to be the hottest place on earth during the summer and is the largest National Park in the contiguous United States.
It is home to the Timbisha tribe of Native Americans, formerly known as the Panamint Shoshone, who have inhabited the valley for at least the past millennium.
The valley has a subtropical, hot desert climate with long, extremely hot summers; short, warm winters; and little rainfall.
It is also extremely dry as it lies in the rain shadow of four major mountain ranges, meaning once air reaches Death Valley it has already lost most of its moisture.
Often considered the hottest place on earth, last year the temperature in the area skyrocketed to over 55C.
On an afternoon in July 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of just under 57C at Furnace Creek in Death Valley. This stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth.
Visitors to the National Park can get the best panoramic views from Dante’s View during the cooler morning hours when the sun is in the east.
In the valley is the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin. It is made up of salt flats and a spring-fed pool which is undrinkable, hence the name. This does not stop some animal and plant life living here.
In spite of the overwhelming heat and sparse rainfall, Death Valley exhibits considerable biodiversity. Flowers, watered by snowmelt, carpet the desert floor each spring, continuing into June. Bighorn sheep, red-tailed hawks, and wild donkeys may be seen.
Death Valley has over 600 springs and ponds. The mile-long Salt Creek supports isolated Death Valley Pupfish which are a remnant of the wetter Pleistocene climate.
The area is called Tumpisa by the Timbisha tribe, meaning rock paint in reference to the red ocher paint that can be made from the clay in the valley. It got its English name during the California Gold Rush in 1849 when 13 pioneers died during an expedition to the gold fields.