[Sahara Overland] gets right to the heart of desert travel Michael Palin Sahara CHRIS SCOTT books • films • tours – guide contact     The first thing we did was buy the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook Ewan McGregor The Long Way Round Frequently described as travellers' bibles, Sahara Overland and the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook ('AMH') have confirmed travel writer Chris Scott as an expert in his fields. Indeed, in 1997 I originated the term 'adventure motorcycling' to describe overland travel by motorcycle - these days fastest growing arm in motorcycling. Since 1982 I've undertaken over thirty expeditions through the Sahara, from Egypt to the Atlantic and by motorcycle, 4WD, M.A.N truck, Mercedes saloon car, bush taxi and lately by camel caravan. Between them they've enabled me to gain an unparalleled knowledge of the practicalities of desert travel across the entire Sahara, both as a tourist, a driver, rider and trekker and as a tour leader. In 2000 and 2001 I organised and led the first UK escorted 4WD and motorcycle tours to return to Algeria and Libya. In 2003 I led the Desert Riders expedition across unvisited parts of southern Algeria to the Tenere Desert's Lost Tree. In 2006 I lead a tour for High & Wild to Egypt Kebir (my third visit there), as well as organising an exclusive tour to view the Saharan Eclipse in Niger. In the same year I completed the second known traverse of the Majabat al Koubra, the "Great Crossing"or Saharan 'Empty Quarter' from Mauritania to Algeria. From here we continued east right up to the Libyan border, so crossing half the width of the Sahara. On the way we collected dust samples in Mali for Oxford University's Centre for the Environment and contributed to the Degree Confluence Project. I continue to run or lead tours as well as plan my own explorations in little-known parts of the Sahara. Since 2007 I've extended my experience to camel trekking, now regularly leading a two-week tour to the remote Amguid Crater site in Algeria's Mouydir Mountains. I'm also preparing a longer, one-month camel trek from a remote waterhole out in the Tanezrouft plain to the Ahnet and Immidir mountains.   Books & Web Since 1984 my travel articles have featured regularly in major 4WD, motorcycle and travel publications in the UK, Australia, Poland and the US. To date I've authored six books including Rough Guide Australia (9th edition October 2009 - (the spin-off 'East Coast Australia' title won Travel Guide of the Year in 2009), my 'Saharan memoirs' Desert Travels, the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook (also in Russian with other translations due), my acclaimed 700-page 'desert bible', Sahara Overland, (also in German with other translations due) and Morocco Overland, published in 2009. I contribute regularly to the Wexas Travellers Handbook (latest 12th edition, 2008) and In January 1998 established both sahara-overland.com, still the only English-language website of its kind, as well as adventure-motorcycling.com. I also contributed to four- and wrote one of the Rough Guide 25s 'Ultimate Experience' booklets (below right) released in 2007 to mark Rough Guides' 25th anniversary. All my contributions were then featured in the best-selling compendium title released later that year: 1000 Ultimate Travel Experiences; Make the Most of Your Time on Earth (left). My features included cameling, rock art, motorcycling and driving in the Sahara, as well as sea kayaking, rafting, sailing and several other adventurous activities in Australia. In the Spring of 2008 I updated the second edition of Trailblazer's Pennine Way guidebook (right); the first such book to feature downloadable GPS waypoints for Britain's longest Long Distance Footpath and in summer 2009 I did the same for their Coast to Coast title (due April 2010).   Expedition consulting Over the last 20 years I've regularly provided advice to many expeditions and adventure tour operators. They include Explore, the Scientific Exploration Society and TV production companies such as Michael Palin's Sahara, various departments at the BBC, including the 'blue-chip' Planet Earth series broadcast in 2006 and most recently, the 2009 Skycar Expedition. On the way I've also helped put a few hare-brained schemes straight, and have even been approached by authors of romantic fiction and scriptwriters to clarify details in their Sahara-based research.   Talks, articles and editing I've submitted expedition reports as well as chaired and co-presented at the Explore seminar at the Royal Geographical Society and have been both featured in, and written for Geographical magazine, the Independent and National Geographic Adventure magazine. In 1996 I was even featured alongside the late Wilfred Thesiger as part of an 'Explorers' fashion' feature in Esquire magazine, and the desert boots I had custom made for Desert Riders Project now feature in the Altberg Bootmakers line up. I regularly give presentations at The Adventure Travel Show in London where I've been interviewed for BBC Radio, as well as doing talks for the Oxford University Explorers Society with another coming up at Eton College. In 2007 I also contribute to the US-based Overland Journal magazine and gave a talk on a sea kayaking trip in Shark Bay, Western Australia at the Scottish Canoe Show. Between writing my own books I've also edited and contributed to Trailblazer's new cycle-touring guides: The Adventure Cycle Touring Handbook ('ACTH') and Himalaya by Bike.   Films and TV With my books established, since 2000 I've been producing occasional dvds to accompany them. The first of these, Algeria 2000 (re-released on dvd in 2006) was featured on Sky TV's Destination Adventure series, followed by Call of the Wild (Yukon, 2001) and Desert Riders(Sahara, 2003) - both subsequently broadcast on National Geographic Channel as well as Moto TV in 2008. Gorge Riders, a motorcycling and canyoneering dvd set northwest Australia was released in July 2005 and in early 2006 I released an updated version of my instructional Desert Driving 2 dvd (left) to accompany Sahara Overland. In 2004 I appeared as a judge for a 'Sand Racer' project on the then popular Channel 4 TV show, Scraphead Challenge.   Photography I do not claim to have any special talent or flashy SLRs but once in a while I happen to be in the right place at the right time. As well as illustrating the covers and colour spreads of my books, a couple of my photos have reached the finals of photo competitions. The cover of Gorge Riders dvd, shot at the Knox Slide in the Hamersley Ranges (and also featured in the Rough Guide) was a finalist in some category or other in the Kendal Mountain Film Festival Photo Competition in 2006 - and a photo I shot of some grazing deer in the Lake District in 2009 was also a finalist in a wildlife photography competition.   Recent and future projects In early 2008 I led another motorcycle tour to the Algerian Sahara which was followed by research by motorcycle and 4WD for my latest title, Morocco Overland which was published in July 2009. In January 2009 and 2010 I led a two-week camel trek for London-based Simoon Travel to Algeria's Amguid Crater, updated Trailblazer's Coast to Coast guidebook. In 2008 I joined ACTH author Stephen Lord on an 800-km ride through the Karakoram and Hindu Kush, (links to youtube) from Kashgar in China to Chitral in northern Pakistan and again in 2009 through the Indian Himalaya gathering material for my overlanding books. Currently I'm busy finishing the Overlanders' Handbook which after three years work will be published in early 2011. Contact updated July 2010