There are different type of deserts: The classical deserts under a tropical (NOT the equator) like Sahara, Great Arabic Desert, Great Australian Desert and Kalahari. Then there are the deserts that lie east of a cold ocean current (Namib and Atacama). Another type are in the lee of mountains like the Gobi in Mongolia (I guess central Antarctica is a similar case). Nature leaves you room to wiggle...
On the other hand magical and devine intervention works out in 11 cases of 10.