Osoyoos Desert

Tucked into the southernmost corner of the beautiful Okanagan Valley is a pocket of dry, shrub-grassland that is popularly called Canada’s only desert. Surrounding the community of Osoyoos and the lake by the same name, this area of the Okanagan is home to 100 rare plants and 300 critters found nowhere else in the country. Osoyoos has a semi-arid climate with very hot, dry days in the summer and very mild days in the winter. Osoyoos Lake is the warmest fresh water lake in Canada, and in winter, it never completely freezes over. The Osoyoos Desert Centre conducts tours where visitors can learn about desert ecology, habitat restoration and conservation of endangered ecosystems in South Okanagan.