 July
2008
 The
late Wilfred Thesiger's travels in the Arabian 'Empty Quarter'
are well known, but the Sahara too has its barren
expanses. In the east is the Libyan Desert, while the less
well known Majabat al Koubra spreads across the
Mauritania-Mali borders. These hyper-arid, million-square
kilometre regions within the greater Sahara are barely touched
by human presence; they represent the essence of the place
known to the Arabs as al sahra: the desert.
In
November 2006 our
2000-km crossing from
Atar across the banditlands of northern Mali to
Bordj Moktar (click map above)
- was a highly ambitious project which cost us one vehicle.
In the end, by taking
several liberties with border regulations and with a good
measure of luck, we got within a day's walk of the Libyan
frontier having crossed over half the width of the Sahara.
Movie
clips from the Empty Quarter 
 During
our crossing we collected dust samples
and imagery
for Oxford University's Climate Research Lab (OUCE). Thought
to have an important effect on global climate, dust from
the Empty Quarter (red areas, left) has never been obtained
or analysed before.
I have been asked to assist the
OUCE with the deployment of automated weather stations (AWS)
in the Empty Quarter in 2010.
A
two-part account of the Empty Quarter expedition appeared
in the Summer and
Fall 2008 issues of Overland
Journal.
An
expedition report (hardcopy) is in the Royal
Geographical Society library.
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