March 20, 2034
An eclipse on the equinox, across three continents.
On March 20, 2034, the Moon's umbra crosses from the Atlantic over Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Egypt, the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Himalayas, Tibet and India. Maximum totality is 4 minutes 9 seconds, with greatest eclipse over northern Chad and the Sun 73° above the horizon. The path crosses the August 2027 eclipse track on the southeastern coast of Egypt — two totalities over the same Egyptian ground less than seven years apart.
A shadow stretches from the Sahara to the Himalayas.
Where the shadow falls, the best spots to stand inside it, and how to be there — with us or on your own.
In the path: Nigeria · Cameroon · Chad · Sudan · Egypt · Saudi Arabia · Iran · Pakistan · India · China. Total eclipse within the path; partial for hundreds of km beyond.
No events listed yet for this eclipse.
The specific good spots to stand inside the path.
High-Sun desert sites across Chad, Sudan and Egypt offer the best blend of long totality, dry skies and an overhead Sun. Lagos sees a deep partial; Islamabad and Kashmir lie further along the path.
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This eclipse falls on the very day of the northern spring equinox — the equinox itself occurs only about three hours after greatest eclipse. An eclipse on the equinox, when day and night balance and the Sun crosses the celestial equator, is a poetic rarity. Combined with the path's twelve-nation, three-continent reach, it is one of the most geographically sweeping eclipses of the era.
A true Saharan and Sahel eclipse — the high overhead Sun goes black over open desert and the Nile, with a crisp corona and a fast temperature plunge over the sand. The Nile town of Abri in Sudan sits dead-center with about 4 minutes of totality.
Across the Sahel and West Africa, eclipses are read as conflict or reunion between Sun and Moon. The Yoruba of Nigeria frame an eclipse as a quarrel between cosmic siblings, calling for prayers and offerings to restore harmony. In Mali, the Bambara and Dogon regard eclipses as profound thresholds through which ancestors communicate prophecy and guidance. Further along the path, ancient Egypt's Ra-and-Apep cosmology applies once more — this continent-spanning path crosses an extraordinary range of cultures and faiths.
At 4m 9s of totality, the The Saharan Eclipse sits 3rd by duration among the 7 total solar eclipses in this series. Every eclipse in the series is its own experience — the numbers below are for context only.
Every total solar eclipse in the series, in date order. Each marker links to its page.