��� �� ��� ����� ���� �� ������� ����� ���� � ��� �� ��� �� ��� ����� ���� ������ ����������������������� ��� ���� Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. Please find below your free copy of my ebook How to Cross a Desert. The short book actually forms a single chapter in the more comprehensive volume: How to Get to the North Pole: and Other Iconic Adventures. This is one of seven chapters from the book which covers a range of the greatest expeditions on the planet from rowing an ocean, to cycling around the world and climbing an unclimbed mountain. I hope you enjoy the book. Do let me know if ever I can help you with an adventure. Many thanks, Tim Moss. [email protected] www.thenextchallenge.org N.B. Please note a printing error in Figure 2 on page 45 below. The second image is Louis-Philippe Loncke's 'Camel on Wheels' and the third is Annette Grobbler's 'Sled', not the the other way around. How to Get to the North Pole: and Other Iconic Adventures 100% 5-stars reviews on Amazon “An excellent book” - Sir Ranulph Fiennes “The perfect resource” – Bear Grylls “The bible for adventure travelers” - Outdoor Minded Magazine Top 10 Bestseller on Amazon’s Discovery & Exploration - Available online now in the following formats: Signed paperback direct from the author (UK only) - £10 International paperback via Amazon.com - from $14 Ebook on Amazon Kindle - £5 top of the world text 3a 28/2/12 16:04 Page 27 How To Cross a Desert ‘Always remember the bright side of life. The right attitude is more important than the gear.’ - Mikael Strandberg, veteran of dozens of expeditions from Siberia to the Sahara 27 top of the world text 3a 28/2/12 16:04 Page 28 How to get to THE NORTH POLE ...and other iconic adventures Setting the Scene Deserts, for most of us, are on the one hand intriguing and exotic, and on the other hand, barren and foreboding. It is important to remember, however, that both animals and people have lived in these environments for thousands of ears. They are still harsh places in which to exist but even if ou don’t capitalise on the modern proliferation of four-wheel- drive vehicles, it is quite possible to traverse even the largest of deserts on foot, with camel support or even towing a cart loaded with water. Statistics USP$ Surviving sun and sand across a barren landscape. Difficulty$ Moderate to difficult. Cost$ £1,000–£5,000+. Hurdles$ Lack of water, heat, sun. Purest style$ Unsupported with camel or cart. Who’s done it?$ !housands by car, dozens on foot. Glory potential$ Moderate. Background -eople have lived in desert environments for thousands of ears: the Bedouin in the Middle East, the !uareg in North Africa, and the Australian Aborigines to name but a few. Records may not exist to document the journeys they undoubtedly made over the centuries but their ability to live and travel in these environments speak volumes. The deliberate exploration of deserts really kicked off in the 19th century with European explorers delving into the depths of North Africa in their droves and similar numbers trying to push their way through Central 1ustralia. 28 top of the world text 3a 28/2/12 16:04 Page 29 How to CROSS # DESERT In 1849, Scottish missionary David Livingstone – best known for his encounter with Henry Stanle $ ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?’ – led the first crossing of the Kalahari by Europeans, albeit with much local assistance. Shortly afterwards, Heinrich Barth spent five ears exploring North and <est 1frica. Barth crossed the Sahara in the process, spending much of his time travelling solo after his two team mates died. In the 1860s, >ohn McDouall Stuart rode the wave of 1ustralia’s expedition fever to complete the first north-south crossing of the continent with the aid of seventy horses.And seventy ears later, Bertram Thomas became the first recorded <esterner to cross the Middle East’s Empty Quarter with a group of Bedouin and their camels. Not long afterwards,<ilfred Thesiger stubbornly clung to a bygone age with his traditional approach to travel in the Arabian Desert but, ultimately, his journeys marked the end of an era for desert exploration. Developments in vehicle-based exploration, pioneered b 2alph Bagnold and his +ong Range Desert Group (of which Thesiger was a member) during the Second <orld <ar, would forever change access to deserts. Deserts now make popular tourist destinations. They are easily accessible for short periods without much skill or preparation and can offer a fascinating, if brief, insight into an environment quite alien to most. However, this is where the experience ends for most people – a dip of the toe, click of the camera and back to civilisation. !he idea of a longer journey is either anathema or implausible to most. As a result adventurous expeditions into the desert are rare and those of the independent, unsupported variety are rarer still. But such journeys are surprisingly attainable. It is a small step from being a complete desert novice to gaining enough experience for an initial fora . And when at least the outskirts of so many deserts around the world are logistically easy to reach – compared to, sa , the foot of a remote mountain – and travelling through them requires only the minimum of low-tech kit, the opportunity for a challenging desert expedition is never far awa . 29 top of the world text 3a 28/2/12 16:04 Page 30 How to get to THE NORTH POLE ...and other iconic adventures Introduction ( What Defines a Desert? The stereotype of a desert tends to include extreme heat and sand dunes but such features are not always present.The average temperature of the -atagonian Desert is only a little above zero, for example, and there is not a lot of sand there. !he most common definition is based upon rainfall,specificall that an area needs to receive less than C)'mm a ear to #ualif .!his simple measure does not alwa s give satisf ing results however. Dne such example is that when evaporation and other factors are taken into account, some regions that do not make the cut are in fact notabl drier than those which do. <ithin this definition there are huge climatic variations.Ees, ou get the scorching hot 1rabian Desert averaging 40ºC in the summer but ou also have deserts like the Gobi which can drop to (G'F5 in the winter. Equally, other deserts can experience much milder temperatures if ou time our trip right; the Atacama and Namib being two such examples. Similarly,not all deserts are sandy.They can have all sorts of different surfaces from salt flats and boulder fields to gravel plains and scrub land. But whilst heat and sand may not be the defining features of a desert in any scientific sense, they present the most novelty and practical implications for an expedition and thus will be the focus of this chapter. Types of desert There are many different ways to categorise and define deserts but here are three key types used throughout this chapter$ Subtropical desert – The stereotypical desert: hot in the winter and very hot in the summer. Includes the Sahara,Arabian and all of the Australian Deserts. Cool coastal desert – <est coast deserts kept dry b easterly winds, they tend to have more moderate temperatures ear-round. Includes the Atacama and 0amib Deserts. Cold winter desert – Cool or cold in the winter, warm or hot in the summer. Outside the sub-tropical degrees of latitude. Includes the Gobi, -atagonian and Great Basin Deserts. () top of the world text 3a 28/2/12 16:04 Page 31 How to CROSS # DESERT Options ( Route and Style On roads or tracks Many deserts have roads running straight through the middle of them. If there is tarmac then a crossing is a fairly straightforward undertaking b car, bike or similar. !he !rans-Sahara and 5airo-Dakar 8ighwa s,man 0orth 1merican deserts and a soon to be completed road across the /mpt ?uarter between Dman and Saudi 1rabia are all possibilities for this.1 little more adventurous would be following tracks off-road which might take a little more effort and e#uipment Ae.g. four-wheel-drive or mountain bikeB but are still notabl easier than going entirel off the beaten track. Ior the remaining areas of desert which do not have such routes already made for ou, plenty of options remain. Enter a race or rally Racing through deserts on foot is becoming increasingly popular with many different organisations now offering desert ultra marathons all over the world.The formats vary but typically see ou running long distances through various check points either in one big hit (e.g. 24 hours non- stop) or over a few days, sometimes carrying our own equipment and sleeping in tents. It is rare that any such race would actually take ou the width or length of an entire desert but they are a good way to get a taste of desert life and some physical hardship. An alternative are motorised rallies.They are sometimes called rally raids and involve driving long distances over several days. Some are competitive with different classes for motorbikes, buggies, trucks and so forth, whilst others focus more on the fun and adventurous aspects with entries open for anything from cars that cost under %&'0 to fire engines and ambulances. Some will be primarily off-road and require appropriate vehicles, others will be entirely on paved roads. Of course, not all such rallies cross deserts but plenty of them do. (- top of the world text 3a 28/2/12 16:04 Page 32 How to get to THE NORTH POLE ...and other iconic adventures J The Marathon des Sables – The best known desert marathon.