[Sahara Overland] gets right to the heart of desert travel Michael Palin Sahara CHRIS SCOTT books • films • tours – guide     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 - by motorcycle, 4WD, M.A.N truck, 2WD saloon car, bush taxi and lately by camel caravan. Between them they've given me 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's Gilf 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 crossing of the Majabat al Koubra or Saharan 'Empty Quarter' from Mauritania to Algeria. From here we continued east 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, leading a two-week tour in early 2009 to the remote Amguid Crater site in Algeria's Mouydir Mountains. For 2010 I'm preparing a longer, one-month camel trek from the Mouydir to the Hoggar.   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 due October 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. 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.   Talks, articles, consulting and editing I've submitted expedition reports as well as chaired and co-presented seminars 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 present talks at adventure travel shows where I've been interviewed for BBC Radio. In 2007 I contributed 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. Over the years I've regularly provided advice to many expeditions, 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. 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. 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. 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.   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.   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 a new title, Morocco Overland published in June 2009. In January 2009 I led a two-week camel trek for London-based Simoon Travel to Algeria's Amguid Crater, and am in the early stages of planning a big motorcycling trip from Korea back via Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and Iran to gather material for the next edition of the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook. There's another Overlanders' book in the pipeline too and a return to the Empty Quarter in 2010 as part of a climate research expedition. Contact updated July 2009