Desert trip

Sara Abou Bakr heeds the desert's call

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Starting the trip but not as smoothly as expected; a 1924 sketch of the Bedouin Mohamed El-Senussi

"It's insane," retorts Mohamed Galal, Desert Sports Centre manager. "More than 90 per cent of Egypt is desert, and people can't be bothered to explore it?" As Wael Farid, Galal's partner, indicates, while off-roading can be risky, "painfully detailed preparation" ensures not only safety but much education and fun. A given journey takes place over the distance between two predetermined points on the map, and typically involves pitting oneself and one's motorised vehicle -- a four-wheel drive with a powerful engine and, sometimes, a steel-fortified underbelly -- against sand dunes and slippery rocks; it takes a range of forms from rallies to military expeditions. According to Galal, whatever your purpose, there are rules to be followed: "never drive through the desert with less than two vehicles. Unless it's absolutely necessary and through a predetermined route, avoid driving at night." But in the desert the one essential item is water, as Farid says, with a smile: "you can never stock up enough..." Among the more appealing aspects of off-roading is the natural tendency for any one party to help another; strangers with nothing in common but love of wilderness will intuitively feel bound by an "ethical code" that inspires a sense of security and enhances the experience all round.

An expedition must have a leader, usually the most experienced off-roader; leaders select routes and camp sites, making the most crucial decisions. Wael Abed, with 12 years of experience to his name, explains, "I sat in the passenger seat for three years, observing, before I could be a leader." He was lucky enough to learn from Ahmed El-Mestekawi, who is, together with the late Samir Lama, Egypt's best known desert veteran: "He said to me, 'I have nothing to teach you, but you are welcome to come along.'" Abed stresses the importance to starting slowly, and learning from nature. "We must explore our own country if we are to progress," he says. He prefers a good, old-fashioned map and compass to the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS), now found in most off-roading vehicles. "It's good to have one," Abed says, "but only for reassurance. In the end what if it breaks down? You must know how to use old tools."

Desert exploration is not new to Egyptians. In 1917 Ahmed Hassanein Bey, sent by the British authorities to negotiate with the Senussi Bedouin on the Libyan frontier, fell in love with the desert and, with the help of the Senussi, made it all the way to Kufra in the heart of the Libyan desert on camelback. In 1923 he became the first man in the world to cross the Libyan desert, crossing over 35,000km and discovering the oases of Uweinat and Arkenu -- the subject of his book, The Lost Oases. Ironically, given the colonial history of the practice, the one problem almost every explorer now complains about is that, if there are to be any foreigners in the vehicle -- which there almost always are -- the leader must take along a Border Patrol officer. Another problem is the need for Military Intelligence permits. Security is all very well, Farid and Galal agree, but how necessary is it to know the identity of every single person who sets foot in the desert, their purpose and route: "There has to be another way of implementing security."

In the desert, Galal quotes an Arabic proverb, you should leave nothing behind but tracks and memories. Continued littering, whether out of ignorance or carelessness, is one of the milieu's most deplorable faults. This is particularly true in the light of the quest for the fabled oasis of Zarzora, mentioned by explorers like the Muslim geographer Al-Idrisi, but never found. Aside from Zarzora, however, the urge to unite with nature -- to walk in the desert, to feel it inside and around oneself -- is something that is likely to go on forever. As Hassanein Bey puts it, "on my first trip to the desert I took a vow. We had lost our way and we had lost all hope... I vowed if we ever came through alive I wouldn't return. Two years later I was back in the same desert, at the same spot where we had lost our way... the desert calls, but it's not easy to analyse its attraction and its charm."