I've been fascinated by the Richat Structure for a while, also called The Eye of Sahara. It's a massive, 40 km wide volcanic land formation in Mauritania, in the West side of the Sahara desert.

It has been known by astronauts for decades because it's so visible from the sky and easy to recognize. Lately it has caught the interest of alternative researchers hypothizing this could be the remains of Atlantis. I have my doubts about that personally, but the structure is extremely interesting and unique regardless.

So today I decided to find out how it looked in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. 

I loaded up my TBM 930 at GQPA Atar Airport and headed out North East towards the structure. The satellite / aerial imagry in this region is absolutely fantastic. 

The structure starts appearing under the cloud layer:

Getting closer:

Right next to the Eye of Sahara, looking north:

My plan was to find a spot to land and launch the drone to have a better look. I was going to try the longer white salty area, but when I got closer it turned out to be very bumpy. I found a flatter surface on the larger circular white patch and landed my TBM 930.

I launched the drone and had a greater look at the impressive structure. At the lower side of the image you can see a green pixel. That's the navigation light flashing on my aircraft. 
Looking East:

Looking South West towards the coast. The area is full of old river beds. The Sahara desert used to be the sea floor. Whale fossils are regularly found in the Sahara desert:

 

I would highly recommend this trip. Flight Simulator 2020 keeps giving me awesome experiences I'd never have the pleasure of experiencing otherwise. Thank you Asobo and Microsoft.

The settings used were almost everything Ultra, LOD 200. Images were much sharper before uploading to Imgur. But still looks good!

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 20205 yr by Republic3D

Great screenshots! I've been curious to see how MSFS would represent the Richat structure (considering it doesn't really exist in P3D), so thanks for sharing. That's the essence of the hobby for me, discovering and learning about the marvels of the world. Where did you depart from... Dakar / Nouakchott perhaps?

38 minutes ago, drobinho said:

Great screenshots! I've been curious to see how MSFS would represent the Richat structure (considering it doesn't really exist in P3D), so thanks for sharing. That's the essence of the hobby for me, discovering and learning about the marvels of the world. Where did you depart from... Dakar / Nouakchott perhaps?

Thanks!

I departed from GQPA airport in Mauritania. It's got a nice 2988m runway so you can use almost any aircraft.

That's one of the things I love about FS2020 as well, exploring and discovering things. 🙂

2 hours ago, Republic3D said:

I would highly recommend this trip. Flight Simulator 2020 keeps giving me awesome experiences I'd never have the pleasure of experiencing otherwise. Thank you Asobo and Microsoft.

That's one of the things I love about FS2020 as well, exploring and discovering things

I didn't know about this, but I shall be off to visit in the next couple of days. And yep, that's what I love about MSFS - I can explore pretty much anywhere now and get a real vibe for a place. Absolutely no desire to travel for real any more, but to be able to sit in my den, spin the globe and think, "I wonder what it looks like there . . ", and then go and find out, is magic. Thanks for posting these!

Very impressive!

52 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

I didn't know about this, but I shall be off to visit in the next couple of days. And yep, that's what I love about MSFS - I can explore pretty much anywhere now and get a real vibe for a place. Absolutely no desire to travel for real any more, but to be able to sit in my den, spin the globe and think, "I wonder what it looks like there . . ", and then go and find out, is magic. Thanks for posting these!

Yep, and the timing of everything. With the whole pandemic situation, at least we now have the option to go there virtually. And it really is super immersive. That being said, the chances of me finding my way to the Eye of Sahara in real life would be slim anyway. 😄

37 minutes ago, Doering said:

Very impressive!

I agree! It's super unique. As far as I know, this is the only place on planet Earth with this type of formation. It almost looks like Mars. 

Woww, that looks great..👌

cheers 😉

Very very interesting...thanks for sharing...!!

18 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Woww, that looks great..👌

cheers 😉

 

1 hour ago, P_7878 said:

Very very interesting...thanks for sharing...!!

Thanks guys!

I think this kind of adventure is one of Flight Simulator 2020's strongest assets at the moment. It's a great simulator, growing every day thanks to the mod community especially, but also hard work at Asobo and partners. 

I already have a few ideas for interesting exploration flights in the future. At least for those of us who like history, geography and such. 🙂 And I think there are a lot of us!