Tucson: among the giant cacti of the Sonoran Desert

The Saguaro National Park, divided in two sections on either side of the city, protects forests of saguaro cacti that can exceed twelve meters in height.

Just minutes away, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, part museum and part open-air zoo, showcases the desert's fauna and flora in a recreated environment with mountain lions and coyotes.

In the historic center, the El Presidio neighborhood, founded by the Spanish in the 18th century, preserves adobe houses among the oldest in Arizona.

Towards evening, the Mission San Xavier del Bac, a white 18th-century mission church just outside the city, glows pink at sunset over the desert.

A saguaro takes roughly seventy-five years to develop its first lateral arm: many specimens visible today in the national park were already tall and mature decades before its establishment.

Mission San Xavier del Bac, still an active place of worship for the Tohono O'odham Native community, is nicknamed "the white dove of the desert" for its brilliant white façade.