Londoners enjoyed an African Summer yesterday, as a scaled down version of the Sahara Desert was created on the South Bank, allowing passers by to experience one of the world’s most hostile and inaccessible environments.

The installation was commissioned to mark the launch of Eden HD, a high-definition version of UKTV’s natural history channel Eden. The set build was specially designed to highlight the channel’s commitment to take viewers on a journey to some of the world’s most exotic and less travelled destinations, in order to get closer to nature.

A production team of eight craftsmen spent four weeks creating the 10 metres x 10 metres x 3.5 metres three-dimensional model featuring drifting dunes, palm trees, 4 tonnes of sand, a Bedouin tent and a real camel. The desert recreation could fit 94,000,000,000 times into the Sahara, which itself measures more than 9,400,000 square kilometers; or 40 times the size of Britain and close to the size of the USA.

We have a video following the full production of the installation which would be great if you could upload to your site – see below link for the video and attached for images.

Eden HD Channel Head, Adrian Wills says: “Eden HD is committed to bringing the viewer closer to nature, and bringing the Sahara Desert to the city allows people to get up close and personal with one of the least visited and inaccessible environments in the world today”.

Pictures and a viral of the set build and design can be seen on exploreeden.co.uk and are available for publication.