The Tirari Desert features salt lakes and large north-south running sand dunes. It is located partly within the
Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park. It lies mainly to the east of Lake Eyre North.
Cooper Creek runs through the centre of the desert.
The adjacent deserts of the area include
Simpson Desert which lies to the north while the Strzelecki Desert is to the east and the Sturt Stony Desert runs aligned with the
Birdsville track to the north east.
The desert experiences harsh conditions with high temperatures and very low rainfall (mean annual rainfall is below 125 millimetres