Near Harad was a large territory that lay southeast of Gondor territory left to Harad. Gondor and Harad regularly skirmished over the territory labeled on the maps as South Gondor. It bordered Khand on the east, although that boundary was not described by Tolkien. South of the Near Harad was the immense region called Far Harad.
The majority of the Near Harad was desert, described by Gollum as where the "yellow face is bright and terrible". In the southeast of the Near Harad, a natural gulf fed far into the landmass, and a large river flowed inland from there to the northwest, later forking. One branch of the river flowed westwards towards Umbar, the other branch flowed northeast. Neither the gulf nor the rivers were given names by Tolkien. Although no cities or permanent dwellings of the Haradrim were described by Tolkien, it is presumable they were located near these rivers, where the climate may have been milder and where they could make use of irrigation.