Explorer Mikael Strandberg

Arita Baaijens, one of the worlds foremost camel travellers! Photo by Joanna P Pinneo

Guest writer number 6, Arita Baaijens, has been very helpful when it comes to advice on all topics regarding the desert. Once I asked her, since she speaks Arabic and is as much Bedu as the Bedu themselves, are you Moslem? Arita got slightly upset and answered: I am a free soul! Indeed she is! She is also a biologist, author, photographer and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Twenty years ago she gave up her job as an environmentalist, bought camels and made a solo crossing across the Western Desert of Egypt. Today she has made over 25 expeditions (3-6 months at a time) with her own caravan of camels all over Egypt and the Sudan. She travelled the Forty Days Road twice with trade caravans of camels. In the eastern desert of Sudan she and archaeologist Krzyzstof Pluskota discovered a hidden valley with hundreds of petroglyphs depicting cows. She just came back from Darfur (Sudan), Egypt and Mauritania. Although she knows everything about camels, she intends to travel on horseback from Siberia to Afghanistan. Her most recent book Desert Songs, a woman explorer in Egypt and Sudan (AUC Press, 2008) won an award in the Netherlands.

Female leadership in the desert!

Venus and Mars in the desert

During the past twenty years I’ve spend most winter seasons exploring the desert of Egypt and Sudan on camel. Sometimes friends kept me company during a leg of the journey, which was great. Camels are wonderful animals, but a conversation with them can be boring because they are only interested in food. So it was fun to have a friend around, although, to be honest, with some of them the fun didn’t last very long. A week at the most. After that the top-dog type of guys – never seen a desert, let alone knew a thing about camels – would point out how I could and should organize my caravan in a much better and more efficient way.

“This is the limit,” one of them shouted with a face turned purple. I was repairing a broken saddle without consulting him. A terrible insult, according to him. “Well, do you know how to do it?” I asked genuinely surprised. “No, but you don’t have to rub into my face.”

"Needless to say that I had the time of my life in Mauritania, where I met a lot of bold, bright and strong women. The Mauritanian caravan model functions, these role models taught me, because next to every strong woman stands a gentle man."

Another friend was annoyed because I made him feel insecure whenever he walked with the camels. Why? Picture the following scene: my friend climbs steep hill after steep hill with heavily laden camels and after two hills I, of course, tell him to circumnavigate those hills. Something he would have done automatically if he would have been the one to carry the load. Anyway, my friend was not amused and our never ending arguments threatened the relationship. So in the end I decided to give it a try and shut up in order to let him learn from mistakes. It worked. Until one of the camels seriously injured herself because of a stupid and unnecessary mistake my friend make. ‘No more soft approach,’ I decided there and then.
My top-dogs friends had a problem with female leadership, I decided. But as the list of incidents grew doubt crept in. ’Maybe it is me,’ I thought. After all, I was the only constant factor in all those stories. A man in my position would never question his leadership style, but being a female, I wondered what I could do to avoid future fights. I searched for female role models in the desert and hoped they could teach me a few tricks. But alas, female caravaners were hard to come by. All the local desert guides where male and they couldn’t care less about the feelings of their staff. On the contrary. A guide, or chabir, does not accept any criticism during a dangerous desert crossing. Which makes perfect sense. A guide is responsible for the lives of people and animals in the caravan and conflicts create tension and confusion, which in turn may affect his judgement.
Imagine my joy and disbelief when about five years ago I came across a thesis about trade in west Africa. The historian who wrote it claimed and proved that women in the region played an active role in caravan trade. As a merchant, investor and even as a caravaner.

Recently I travelled to Mauritania and met two female caravaners, both well into their seventies now. I also met the sons and daughters of a locally well known woman who had worked as a trader and a caravaner. One of her sons, now a grandfather, rubbed his knees and shins with a painful grimace when he talked about the long journeys with his mother. The whole family went together, parents and children, and they were on the road for several months. The children walked or sat on top of salt loads, hour after painful hour. The caravan would only come to a stop after sunset. And after such an exhausting day the mother still had to cook. Women were also responsible for selling goods at foreign markets. The profit was used to buy local products they could sell back home.

"When I explained to a few young women that their Dutch sisters, in order to keep their marriage intact, pretend that their husband is the boss, the girls laughed and laughed. They just couldn’t believe what I said. In Mauritania, they giggled, it is the other way around. Men like strong women. Indeed, if a spouse bosses his wife around she knows something is wrong. Very wrong. When a husband acts out of character he usually fancies another woman."

When I asked men and women about the daily routine in a trade caravan, nothing indicated that women had an inferior position. “Men and women worked together,” an old man commented. Many others confirmed this. In I learned that in Mauritania women have always had a very strong position in society and within the family. Women are also well educated. When I explained to a few young women that their Dutch sisters, in order to keep their marriage intact, pretend that their husband is the boss, the girls laughed and laughed. They just couldn’t believe what I said. In Mauritania, they giggled, it is the other way around. Men like strong women. Indeed, if a spouse bosses his wife around she knows something is wrong. Very wrong. When a husband acts out of character he usually fancies another woman.

Needless to say that I had the time of my life in Mauritania, where I met a lot of bold, bright and strong women. The Mauritanian caravan model functions, these role models taught me, because next to every strong woman stands a gentle man.

You can read more about the fantastic personality at http://www.aritabaaijens.nl and http://www.linkedin.com/in/aritabaaijens

Me, worth 2 000 000 dollars?

“I have put everything on hold” , Nasr told me with sadness, “My father wants me to get married. And since I am the oldest son, I am expected to stay around my family if I get married, so once I am married, I won´t be able to join you. I can´t hold off my father for much longer, I am already 25 years old!”

Another bit of a shocker since we arrived to Oman getting ready to leave in January! Not much has gone our way over here since arrival and I am trying to figure out what direction to take. It is of course just a case of patience and hard work, and since everything here is closed until tomorrow and have been for ten days, I will phone myself hoarse tomorrow…..Anyway, I have just returned back to Muscat after a trip back and forth to Ibra over the day to visit Nasr, one of the two Bedouins (or Bedu as they are called in the Arab World) who is expected to join us for the big overland trip to the Atlantic coast. It was one of the best, most informative and interesting days during this time of mine here in Oman. The reason: Well, just getting close to these great and gracious animals called camels, the flat silent desert and the peace it brings, just made me very happy! It affected all of us three who went there. I have a very good friend visiting me, the legendary coach of Swedens Ice Hockey Team, Bengt “Fisken” Ohlsson. He has done a one months tour of Iran, Dubai, Yemen and now Oman.

“Best day of my trip!” he said, “Fantastic people!”

Eating camel for lunch....From left: Nasr, Abdullah, P and me. Just before the shocking news!

Nasr works for Sultans Royal Guards and was off on leave over Eid and his brother Abdullah was home from his studies in India, which was perfect since his English is excellent. Finally we had the chance to sit down and have a good chat. Nasr is well trained physically, motivated and his family lives in a very nice home in village just outside Ibra. Since they are Bedouin, they’re extra-ordinary generous. We were served tender camel cooked in a hole in the ground for over 24 hours. We ate this great dish together with rice and lots of Arabic coffee and halwa.

“I don´t think we will be able to leave in January” , I told Nasr immediately after arrival whilst he looked at me with respect, “We have run into some problems with time, it just takes an enormous amount of time to get things moving here and we still haven´t found any camels good enough for this trip. So that is one reason we have come to visit you today. I heard your cousin had racing camels?”

“Yes he does” , Abdullah translated, “But they´re very expensive. Like a car. The best cost more than 2 000 000 dollars.”

The Wahiba Bedus way to carry equipment......puuuhh........

The cheapest camels are about 10 000 dollars and that is an extra-ordinary sum, but that is life in the Gulf countries. In Yemen of course, you could get one, as good, for a tenth of that price, but it would be impossible to transport them to Oman, the country where we want to start our journey from. We ain´t changing our plans, yet……but there´s no doubt, I want to leave as soon as possible! But January seems unlikely right now, which means if we don´t get started before the beginning of March, it will be impossible, due to the summer heat, to leave until Mid-August. Another bit of a shocker, realizing this. All of those worries left us, of course, as soon as we made it out in to the desert south of Ibra and meeting Rashad the cousin and his 50 racing camels, beautiful, but a little bit twitchy and nervous, like racing horses. We did a little tour around camp and loved it, but I doubt these can do a long trip.

“My best camel runs 8 km in less than 13 minutes!” Rashad said and than showed me how to pack 60 kg on a camel.

Didn´t look good at all. They don´t know, the Bedus of Oman today, about long distance travel. Rashad showed me a lot of techiques and skills how to take care of camels and I enjoyed his company immensely. Funny, street smart, knowledgeable about the camel, loved them, he had worked camels since he was seven and inspired us a lot. We need at least 1 month, maybe two, to live and train the camels we will bring. A time I look forward to a lot. We could easily have stayed at that camp for two months right now, it was that relaxed, silent and pleasant. And free from email, telephones and worries…..right now, am ready for tomorrow!

By the way, I had an email from a friend who said Geoffrey Moorhouse had died. He did an attempt to cross the Sahara in the 70´s and failed. He wrote a book well worth reading if you want to understand the difficulties and dangers involved in camel travel. I wrote this piece about him earlier http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2009/04/01/the-fear-factor/ Another worry for us is the development in the region, see this about Dubai and this about Yemen

Rashad -very helpful camel owner and Bedu

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Walking through Maasiland in the year of 2000, not donning local gear as usual, but called Olorogwa whether I liked it or not....

One of the main visions of the Arabian Expedition is to build a bridge of understanding between the West and the Muslim East and within the Arab countries themselves. No matter how one look upon things, this is one of the major problems that the world is facing today. There´s an enormous need for information, education and clear debate on both sides. One of our major hopes regarding this upcoming Expedition, of which 50% is Arab, Salim and Nasr, and the rest made up of me and Pamela, who is Asian-American, is to communicate via the Internet every third day, where debate will be one of the most important issues. We need to communicate. If this is possible, to create a forum for debate just like we wish, we don´t know yet.

The reason I bring this very exiting and important issue up in this report is due to this email that I received yesterday:

Know that the Bani Hasan tribe has been undertaking camel treks out of Yemen across Africa for centuries – guess that’s already been “explored” (without GPS receivers and sat-phones).

I’ve lived in Yemen for a while now and you are like every dick head tourist I’ve seen coming through here, donning local clothes and a jambiya (you know the locals laugh at foreigners doing that, right?), giving yourself a local name (priceless) and blogging about the place like you discovered it.

However, you stand apart in your unfailing ability to aggrandise yourself for doing what is otherwise standard adventure tourism. You’re no more of an explorer than the 1000th Yemeni traveling through Sweden can claim he is exploring stockholm.

Why not explore the mind of the self-important ethnocentric tourist? You’ve got a head start.

amelahodalt (this person did leave his or hers email, but no name)

Me an ethnocentric dick? Possibly....

During my 25 years of exploration, I have never, ever received an email as offensive and full of bitterness, jealousy and hatred as this one. I am sorry to, once again, find out that so many people feel bad in this world of ours and use so much of their joy to live to pour out their hate and bitterness for something they disagree with. I have received tons of letters, emails, phone calls throughout the years and I have been stopped in the street many times by people who disagree with what I do, who I am and how I see life. Of course, I wish everybody would love me, but that is definitely not the case! But I accept all kinds of critique. It is part of any life where you have personal opinions.

However, to be able to have a debate about anything in life, opinions have to be free and many. Within a limit. Offensive emails like this one, based on hatred, jealousy and bitterness, leads nowhere. But there are, after all no smoke without fire, and some of these issues this person highlights comes up a lot in my sphere, what is an explorer and what is true exploration, so I will start a debate by answering this persons accusations. Feel relatively free to come with opinions, but since I moderate everything, because I on and off get these type of emails, I will not allow more emails like this one, which is free of any reason, good research and thought.

About the Beni Hassan tribe, like the more well-known Beni Hilal tribe, and other Arabs who have traveled both ways, to and from Mecca, this is true, but there´s absolutely no written records that a full east to west trip has been done without a prolonged break. Especially not in modern times. However, one of the main ideas with the Expedition, is to highlight the Arabs as great travellers and their amazing journeys. One of them is the well-known Ibn Battuta. And that is why 50% of the members are Arab, so that they can become modern day Ibn Battutas and give the Arab world a voice from the exploration point.

Reality today, in the modern era of exploration,is that this is how most Bedu travel with their camels today...even the famous Al-Mahra tribe.

When it comes to satellite phones and GPS, it shows that you have no idea about my past history of exploration, feel free to read this. I have never, ever used a GPS and never will. However when it comes to satellite phones, I did have it on the Siberian Expedition and will have bring one on the upcoming Expedition. This is due to the need to communicate via Internet. Plus that authorities nowadays won´t let you into the country without one. It is considered another measure of security. But, I will never, ever, use the satellite phone to call for help or assistance. It hasn´t happened and it never will.

When it comes to donning local dress, I agree fully with you. This is the first time in my life, that I have put on local dress, and I agree with your assessment. The reason is as follows: I was given it as a gift from Pamela and our two friends Mohammed and Hussein, to wear for one day. From which all photos are taken. I felt very uncomfortable, but realized that there were many in the souk who actually felt honored and liked it that I wore there local Sanaani dress. But that was the only time. But, it could well happen again in the future. Once again, I wish you would have done your home work better. This is the thing with blind hate, jealousy and bitterness, it works over reason and research. Better to do something with your own life in stead. Enjoy it. Do it in a way you think is appropriate. Write about it. Because communication is the most important issue for a stable future for the globe.

Together with Hussein...yes, we are all laughing!

The giving of the name Ahmed Al-Hamdani was the same evening. It was Hussein and Mohammed who gave it to me. As a sign of their respect. For what I don´t know. However, many western tourists, adventure travelers and explorers have been given names whether they like it or not. Two well known ones are Wyman Bury and Wilfried Thesiger. I have been given local names, whether I like it or not, meeting other people, tribes, like the maasai. I was throughout my Expedition there called Olorogwa, which means the fiery one. Local names are always given by local people as a sign of respect and appreciation. Maybe that is why you have never experienced this.

When it comes to my love of writing, well, I will always write as I have just discovered a place! For me, I do discover all the time and for me it is a new discovery. It is about loving life. I really love life! And whether you like it or not, I have a following of readers globally who wants me to write the way I do. And its people. If you don´t like my writing, why bother reading it?

That last paragraph reeks of jealousy. I won´t even comment it.

To sum it all up, I see you love Yemen and the Yemenis, which I do as well and you have come across a lot of tourists and travelers that you don´t like. I am sorry to hear that. Why don´t you start a blog and write about your feelings? Find a solution to your anger?

Communication in minus 45 in Siberia......

Yemen was one of the highlights of my life in many ways. See the slide show from there!

Since Pamela and myself together with Salim and Nasr will face the upcoming debate together, Pamela, who is an academic look upon the email like this and will leave her comment as a comment! Start the debate!

”My father and his father and so on, they all travelled to Mecca by camel” , the old man explained whilst touching the top of his jambiyya , “It took my father four months to get there and the same amount of time back. In those days you only made the pilgrimage once. It was too difficult and to expensive.”

The old hajji....

“Isn’t it still expensive to do a pilgrimage to Mecca? My teacher told me yesterday it is still very expensive and for most people, if it is possible at all, that once in a life time is an achievement, a dream.” I said, remembering Rashad telling me that he hoped to do a pilgrimage, but that it would take him many years to save the money needed, “He said it would cost him at least half a million rials (approximately 2500 dollars) to do a proper pilgrimage, since he had to go through a travel agent here in Sana’a specialising in pilgrimage tours to Mecca. About 25 days including hotels, transport, air tickets, a visit to the prophet’s grave in Medina and so on. And he said that the Saudis only allowed a certain amount of pilgrims per country a year.”

The giant mosque built by the president Abdullah Saleh

“The Saudis….” , the old hajji said with a grim face, “…charge you for everything including breathing.”

A very good friend of mine, one of few Muslim explorers on earth, a true Ibn Batutta of today, said that he flew from Afghanistan to Mecca to do his first pilgrimage and was treated like shit until he showed his American passport. He wasn’t too fond of the Saudis in Mecca either. I have to say, they don’t seem to have the best reputation in the world, neither among ex pats or other gulf Arabs. Than again I have heard a lot of opposing views. That the Saudis are amongst the friendliest and best people on earth. The idea seems to be to avoid Jeddah, Riyadh and Mecca/Medina. The reason I bring Saudi Arabia up is that it is a country everyone continuously talks about in these parts of the world. In Yemen every day. The Saudis are in many ways very influential and powerful players in the global economy of not only the Gulf, but in the rest of the world as well. I look forward to travelling through Saudi-Arabia a lot!

Inside the mosque which seats 20000 devotees....

“So you are contemplating to travel by camel?” the old man said more as a statement than a question and than added: “It is the best way to travel! Just treat them well and they will be your best friends forever!”

It was Mohammed, Hussein’s employee and best friend, who had set me up meeting this old man, who’s first name was Abdullah and came from the same village as Mohammed. They had the same second name, Al Mawari. Many people’s second names in the Arab World also tell a visitor the geographical background of a person. And ever since I was given a great gift from my great best friend Pamela, see last report, a zannah (ankle long white robe), a silver belt with an expensive jambiyyah with a Bedu background and a turban or head cloth, sharh,  with a colour and pattern which makes locals sometimes call me Palestinian, I have honorary been given the name Ahmed Al-Hamdani. Basically due to the way Hussein made up my turban, just like a Bedu from the Hamdani region. Even Abdullah called me a Hamdani, even though Mohammed had to translate. I have to say I still somewhat surprised how honoured and happy the locals are when you are dressed like them. This I have never seen anywhere else, well, maybe Oman.

Hussein, Ahmed Al-Hamdani and Mohammed outside the presidents mosque...

“So you stopped using and working with camels as long back as 30 years ago, what do you miss the most regarding these fantastic animals and do you have any advice to me to bring on my journey?” I asked him, because I had earlier asked Hussein if he could find a Yemeni who had travelled to Mecca by camel and could tell me which route they had taken, since I would like to stick to the traditional pilgrimage route from Sana’a to Mecca.

“I used to travel from Sana’a to Al Hudaydah (link to Yemeni map) on the west coast, and back, bringing food for people and animal, it used to take eight days and we travelled 16 hours per day”, he recounted with passion, “And what do I miss? I miss the freedom and the evenings in front of the fire. And I miss the camels. If you treat them with love, you will always have a loyal friend.”

Praying at the mosque....

“Which route did your dad take to Mecca?” I asked again, because our conversation was on and off disturbed by other locals in the room teasing and laughing at the old man, just because he used to work camels and right now was a quite hard line Muslim belonging to the Shia arm of Islam. All others Yemenis in the room were Sunni. The war in the north, between the government and the Al Houthi could in some ways be called a religious one. A war between Sunni (government) and Shia (al Houthi).

The "birthday" cake from my friends....the inscription reads Mikael - the sheikh of the Bedu

“Quiet!” he hissed at his teasers, who laughed back and teased him a bit more, but he continued: “Well, the pilgrims and hajjis to be, always set out from Saada and from there travelled to Mecca via Baqim, Zahran, Haraja, Khamis Mushayt, Abha and down to the Saudi coast and from there on to Jeddah and Mecca.”

Amazingly enough exactly the route I had planned just by looking at the map geographically 3 months back and searching for the existence of valleys, plains, paths and roads. However, my Expedition is still far off in time, in shallah, if all goes well, we will set off in January next year, but, this fact apart, yesterday I was also given an especially made cake by Pamela, Hussein and Mohammed, thick and tasty and its chocolate decorated with a white camel and the words:

“Mikael – the sheikh of the Bedu”.

After the party we went to the souk after midnight to eat some kebabs at this place....

People here in Yemen, my friends, are the best of the best. Warm, generous, funny, smart and they all love life. I still don’t know what we were celebrating, but it filled me with great joy! On top of that I was given a full Sanaani outfit including the most macho of all male symbols in Sanaa, a jambiyya, and together with Pamela, Hussein and Mohammed we took a taxi –this was another “birthday” surprise organised by Pamela for me- and we ended up at the spectacular Presidents Mosque. Its main hall is so big so that it can seat 20 000 devotees facing Mecca in prayer! We weren’t the only foreigners there, me, Ahmed Al Hamdani, and Pam dressed as a Sanaani woman, then named Pamela Al-Sanaani to make it easier to get in during prayer. There were many Indonesians and Malaysians amongst the devotees. Security was hard, but Hussein got us through everywhere with his kindness, humour, baton and peculiar ideas. It beats the Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Muscat. It is grander.

“The cost to build this mosque equalled ten hospitals”, Mohammed commented with his down-to-earth wisdom:” I think most people wanted hospitals, but the president wanted to be remembered.”

Hussein, Pamela and Mohammed outside the Presidents Mosque.

I have also realised that most local people don’t really appreciate the war against the Houthis, which many see as their brethren and fellow Moslems. The war planes are still leaving Sana’a in great numbers. It is still a very unnerving feeling. Thank God for friends like Mohammed, Hussein and Pamela!

I almost love the research before an Expedition as much as the journey itself. And I know, it has to be thorough, professional and open-minded, because a lot of the success of any serious Expedition has to do with the amount of good research an explorer puts in. For me who love books, maps and since the Internet appeared as a research tool, unfortunately meaning the death of the libraries, this period is a big journey in itself. You almost have to become a scholar. Even though I will only remember a few percent of what I learn now and put into use on the expedition in itself, it will, still, most of it, be there in the back of my head, when the Expedition is over and it is time to do something with all the collected material. Like writing a book, doing a film or preparing for lectures. And it will put you in the right frame of mind already now, even though I am in reality holed up in a small, dusty little apartment in a dark and boring suburb to Stockholm. But already now, I will for example remember, knowledge gained from just the couple of days of research that I have done now, whilst doing research on Westerners Travelling in Rub Al-Khali or The Empty Quarter -well, the Bedu have travelled there for thousand of years of course, something the white West tends to forget, but they have no written material left behind, unfortunately- that one of the legends of the area is Bertram Thomas.

The Empty Quarter, or Rub Al-Khali, was often referred to in the first part of the 20th Century as one of the few remaining genuinely unexplored regions of the world, on the same scale as the South and North Pole. Therefore many explorers wanted to do the first crossing of this vast sandy desert, 650 000 square kilometres in size, like putting Belgium, Holland and France together, but first of all gold digging explorers to catch this price -forgetting the local Bedu who lived here- turned out to be a simple civil servant from Bristol in the UK, Bertram Thomas. He crossed the Empty Quarter together with local Bedu 1930-31 and wrote an excellent book called Arabia Fenix. Amazingly enough his book can be read on the Internet!

At this stage when I have decided on where to go, understanding the objective of the expedition, all effort has to be put into finding the right contacts and background material. Both tasks filled with joy. Communicating with experts on the area is half the fun. And so far almost everyone I have contacted have been very helpful, showing a camaraderie unknown between people in the same business as me here in grey Sweden. One of them is the Grand Old Dame of desert and Camel travel, Arita Baijeens. And as always, you come across people associated with other things and other dreams you have had. Today, by pure coincidence during my research, I came across an old acquaintance of mine, Dan Mazur, and remembered that I had told him a few years ago, that I of pure interest after reading Hillary´s account of his conquest of Everest, wanted to make an attempt on Hillary´s and Tenzing´s original route. Dan Mazur, like me using Facebook, so I contact him and said, I am still interested. He advised me to go for it, if prepared, april 2010. Why not then….life is short.

Second task is to put an enormous effort into getting a picture as big and broad as possible regarding the area. What I have to learn and try to understand in a very short time, 10 months or so, is a gigantic task. Even though I have already had quite a lot of insight into Islam, Arabs, the Middle East and desert travel from earlier travels, I know almost nothing about the Gulf, camels or, most important, their original inhabitants, the Bedu. And I need to learn Arabic, in shallah.

At the same time I have to try to support myself, find sponsors, set up the media kit, keep extremely fit, eat the right food, be relatively happy, have a social life, but still spend most of the time studying, no easy thing. Gee, there is some sacrifice indeed! It is at the same time, one of the best moments of an explorers life, but also the worst in some ways, because you love it more than other parts of your life. But it is the same thing before every Expedition. Most people who are close to you, genuinely fear and hate it! This is what a true explorer want to do more than anything else in life! travel, be it through books or in reality. I do look forward to this Expedition more than ever before!

”What is her name?” I asked Mussalam Bin Hassan and he forwarded the question immediately to his friend, Mussalam, who shook his head and said in Arabic: “The female camels are all named after their grandmother.”

“You can give her a name then”, Bin Hassan said in perfect English to me, but then changed his mind and said: “Let us call her Sahara! It means desert in Arabic.”

I then went up to Sahara, stroked her long neck and patted her cheeks at the same time she was hobbled by her front legs, lying on all four as a sphinx on the desert floor. The surroundings where spectacular, burning orange red sand dunes all around and total silence. Suddenly Sahara looked at me, gave out a loud gurgle and vomited a green foul smelling substance straight on my face. I realized that I would have preferred a better start to my visit in the southern most tip of the biggest sand desert in the world – Rub Al-Khali.

The major reason for my visit was to find out if I really had my heart into my next big project, Expedition Arabia by camel, maybe as much as 7000 km:s of desert travel with camel during at least 18 months. One of the last great Expeditions on earth. I have the last two years found myself in limbo, not enjoying life too much, not knowing what to do with life. Suddenly, I just realized, by pure coincidence, whilst visiting a lecture by an oil company and seeing the words Rub al-Khali written on a map, that is it! Arabia! That is my next Expedition! Well, anyway, whilst taking a look at a world map of Arabia I saw the full picture. And one of the major obstacles on such an Expedition would be a passing of this legendary desert, Rub Al-Khali, made famous by the legendary British explorer Wilfred Thesiger. Since then, well, as always, forgetting the local Bedu who live here, who crossed for necessity up until the early seventies when Oman was thrown in no time into the modern era, an unsupported passage has not been done by a westerner since 1949. So, I was in the Empty Quarter to try to find out if I still had what it takes to do a big Expedition. Meaning checking that I really had the heart into it had the right motivation and physical and mental stamina. And hopefully find one or two Arabs preferably of Bedouin origin to join me, because I want my project to be an Expedition where east and West travels together and build bridges between people and cultures. A project also to promote Arabia and Arabs. I have realized a long time ago that we in the west have a terrible picture of this part of the world and its people. And it is getting worse by the day. Something has to be done. I will do my best to balance it a bit. Because, after a few days with three great Bedu in a small tiny part of Rub Al Khali, I know that some of the best people on earth live here!

See the slideshow from my visit in Rub Al-Khali here

See the slideshow from Oman here

“I was born in cave”, Bin Hassan told me slowly and calmly when we took a 4 hour break in the middle of the first day, lying in the shade of one of the two four wheel drives that accompanied us, “and I didn’t wear any shoes until I went into the army. And now, today, I have been in Europe, I speak 5 languages, have all modern gadgets and have my own business. It feels like I have taken a gigantic step.”
Bin Hassan was dressed in his white dishdasha, a matching orange-brown turban and looked like a sultan in his grey beard. He was slightly heavy, since he wasn’t moving about by foot as he once did. Like all bedu boys he had to take and look after grazing camels, walking long distances to find something to eat. We were the same age. It made us even more comfortable with each other. Bin Hassan has experienced a lot in his life. He has seen and heard most things.
“The life of the Bedouin has changed a lot”, he said, he like all bedu (Bedu in local tongue) likes talking, it is still a favourite past time, “Today’s young kids are lazy. They don´t want to do anything. They’re spoilt. I would like to do something about that. I want to try to preserve some of the old Bedu culture. Maybe do a long trip by camel.”
“Maybe we should try to pass Rub Al-Khali together?” I said.
“Yes”, Bin Hassan answered thoughtfully, “That will be a very good idea. Let us do it in true bedu style. No shoes, bare feet, just have dried meat, dates, Arabic bread and coffee with us.”
“Unsupported, no cars, no back up” I said.
“Yes” , Bin Hassan said solicitously and told Mussalam in their local tongue, mehri, he who owned Sahara, the camel and he nodded, and Bin Hassan looked at me and said: “We need him to come with us, he knows everything about camels. He lives with them and loves them. We are strong you and me, but not like him. He is very strong.”
Mussalam smiled as always. He was in his mid-fifties, lean and strong. He smoked his pipe, talked about women and marriage and grinned. He was my image of a real bedu. And did he have to show his strength on this practise run?
Yes, because it turned out immediately I sat up on this peculiar animal, which in itself is dramatic, she groaned unhappily and then we sat out cruising through these dramatic sand dunes, me being transported like a child in a zoo, by somebody holding a rope, pulling the animal. It all went well until a group of English tourists turned up and made it all into a circus by trying t get two people on Sahara. A disaster and from that time she was almost impossible to ride for me. She groaned, vomited and looked like she could bite me all the time and even for Mussalam, sitting up on her was like a small rodeo every time. So I set out on foot.

See the slideshow from my visit in Rub Al-Khali here

See the slideshow from my visit to oman here

I basically walked for four days. A few hours. Half before the four hour lunch brake, and half after. Always through a dramatic desert scenery. I have been in a lot of deserts, like the biggest of them all, Sahara, but it cannot compare. Take the Sahara for example. The sand dunes there are higher and bigger, but they are covering just small areas of this vast desert. The rest is flat stone desert broken up by valleys. But Rub Al-Khali, if I am to believe Bin Hassan, is pretty much all sand dunes! And it is a big desert! Largest sand desert in the world and covers about 650,000 km², being about 1000 west to east in the north, from north to south about 800 in its western side and 300 km in its eastern side. It is the largest continuous sand area in the world. Rub al-Khali has no permanent settlements, and represents one of the most extreme areas in the world with summer temperatures shifting from below 0ºC at night to over 60ºC at noon. Dunes can reach heights of more than 300 metres. I climbed the biggest dune next to our night camp every evening, just to get a view over this vast desert. It is the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The shapes, the patterns and the size are just unbelievable, but the most penetrating feeling in Rub Al-Khali is the emotion of tranquillity and peace of mind. It took two evenings of sitting at the top of the highest dunes to get me to understand that my life for many years ahead, maybe the rest of my life, will be deserts. Somehow I felt like I had come home.

I was spoilt as any tourist on this trip. Bin Hassan did all the cooking and Mussalam and our third helper, Salim, from the same tribe as the other two, took care of everything else. Bin Hassan is used to tourists, running his own business to take all nationalities to experience the Empty Quarter. And one of the biggest joys of desert travel, is not like I am used to, travelling by yourself, it is the time you spend together around the campfire. It is a natural way to live. And as Wilfred Thesiger said:

“You never feel lonely amongst Arabs!”

There´s first of all in the desert, not only at night camp, almost dead silent, the surroundings, broken only by a stray bird, like ravens, otherwise it is so silent you can almost hear when you make an invisible line in front of you, by drawing your finger in front of you, from left to right. That silent. The food tastes great. The talk is joyful and full of inspiration. Suddenly darkness takes over and the sky suddenly explodes with stars, the Milky Way is so close. Strongest is the Northern Star, It was full moon during my visit. So after two hours of relative darkness, suddenly the moon towered on top of us and we could switch of the torches when going off to do the needs. One sleeps outside in the desert of course, especially during winter, since no scorpions or snakes look for a place to rest. It is part of feeling free. And after sleeping indoors for two years in row, which is a lot for me since I have slept over 2500 nights in my tent, I slept better than ever. Waking up a lot, having some very strong dreams, but still, even with a few hours sleep, one feels refreshed in the morning. And, the reason for waking up is that suddenly a small little breeze starts and touches your cheeks. When you open your eyes, the moon lightening up the spectacular surroundings and it feels like you are in the middle of a dream.

See the slideshow from Rub Al-Khali here

See the slideshow from my visit in Oman here

A feeling which changes quickly during midday, whilst walking and the strong sun is pounding your head. It is difficult to think during this time, otherwise deserts are great for contemplating life. And during this time it is hard to believe that anyone can survive, even less live in the desert, but the amazing thing is that you continuously see tracks after life. Most of all from small lizards, beetles and hares. But I also saw a fresh track after a fox. Repeatedly you pass some odd looking rock balls, which in fact are crystallized over thousands of years by the little dew that the desert receives. On and off you pass a resilient bush or even a patch of grass, loved by the camels. These animals which are so perfectly evolved to fit the desert. Mussalam, the camel owner, had major difficulties with Sahara for three days. She didn’t like the desert at all. Especially with a tourist on her bShe wasn’t used to travelling over dunes and was terrified every time it was going uphill or downhill. The forth day she allowed me to ride her again. And once up on the back of the camel, behind her hump, sitting on a relatively comfortable saddle, it is pure joy when at walking pace. It is much more comfortable than on a horse, but once, for some unknown reason, a faster trot or gallop starts it is very difficult to enjoy life. Since there´s no stirrups, and very little balance, you hold on to the saddle for your life! But, there´s no doubt, a desert should be travelled by camel. It is relatively slow, so you actually have time to study the surroundings carefully, but still it moves faster than walking. 5 km:s per hour and you loose very little energy and sweat by riding a camel and therefore, need less water. But, gee, do I need to train camel riding before setting off on the great Expedition of our time!

“I need the desert”, Bin Hassan told me almost every hour, “I feel very good every time I return here.”

I learnt a lot about the Bedu during these days. My respect for them is enormous. The power it takes just to survive in the desert is unbelievable as anybody can understand who has suffered thirst and hunger in the desert. (Which I didn’t this time, but I have spent a long time all together in other deserts around the world.) And they have lived here for thousands of years. They are the people of the desert. Three times a day I saw them turned in the direction of Mecca, praying to Allah. It just felt so natural out here in the desert and I can well understand why Islam was born in the desert not far from Rub Al-Khali. Every year some Bedu, those who cannot afford air or car travel, takes a three month camel journey to Mecca. Through the Empty Quarter. I also like that the Bedu are very sociable, talkative and very proud. They believe in themselves. They consider themselves the true Arabs. And they love women and camels, more than anything. These two subjects dominated the camp fire talks. Mussalam even started drawing women dressed in abeyya in the sand. That after only 4 days, gee, I wonder what kind of paintings it will be like after seven weeks in the desert!

So, conclusion, what did I learn for the big Expedition?

• I need to learn Arabic, there´s no doubt about it. More important than ever. I will not get anything serious done otherwise. I will not understand Arabia.
• Good, well-trained camels are dead important. They should be used to hard, undulating desert travel and like tourists…I will need at least three months of training before leaving and setting out on Expedition.
• Desert travel in winter is not bad at all. The heat is bearable. Nights are not to cold.
• Travelling the Bedu way will be much more difficult than traditional expedition travel. Less food and less energy…..
• Motivation is very high and I am definitely ready! It feels like big things are coming up!

”Is he stupid?!” the annoyed Bedu woman shouted through the window of her rusty pick up car, pointing at an illustrious camel next to the desert road, “Surely he must see that she is pregnant and if he takes flash photos, she might loose her baby!”

“No, he doesn’t know anything about camels” Kamil my Omani guide and very good friend said, “He didn’t understand that you were shouting at him.”

“But he is English” she said a bit surprised, “They know everything!”

She looked both stunned and upset at us for a moment. The finger tips on both hands were henna painted black, she had a scarf slightly covering her very dark hair, lots of golden looking armbands on both wrists and her stare was proud and free of any worries. Except for her female camel.

“You see?” Kamil said grinning when we continued our trip on the sandy and bumpy, very corrugated, desert road, “Just like the story from Africa you told me yesterday? That local people believe white people are better? And that a flash can kill the baby of the camel? This is because they are not educated. They live here, they’re people of the desert, hard and tough people, but they are not educated all of them. Then they would know what I know, I know you are not better than us!”

In that instant I was experiencing both sides of Oman, this spectacular country. On one side the very modern, educated and forward-looking state with a very proud modern Omani-people. On the other side, still, primeval Arabia, like a 1000 and a night, both romantic, harsh and stuck ancient traditions. But very proud. This reality is what makes Oman so different from its Gulf neighbours like Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and UAE. They haven’t fully bought the modern society with all the good and bad things. Sure, it has in many ways, like one directly notices when arriving in the capital Muscat, modernized the country, but Oman has also kept its great ancient Arab and Bedouin traditions. Which a visitor will be clearly aware of when doing a tour of this beautiful country. Since I arrived three days ago it has been like a dream in many ways. First we passed through the Rocky Mountain-like western Hajar Mountains, picnicked at the green and lush oasis of Wadi Ghul, passed through the antique cities like Bahla and Nizwa and crossing the sand dunes at the Wahiba Sands (Sharqiya Sands), and, everywhere, the old traditions are kept. Not only through preserving their immense forts, and mud cities of past, but mainly through the great kindness of the local people. Even though Oman has surprised me a lot with its diversity and natural beauty, it is the people I’ve met which have fascinated me. They’re free from any aggression, very service minded, kind, generous, interest and full of wisdom. Wherever we come we get invited for kahva (Arabian coffee) and dates. It is served with great dignity, sitting down the Arab way, legs crossed and one is continuously served until you shake your right hand as a sign that you are satisfied. Dignity is the word describing these meetings the best.

“Is he not married then? No children?” one old man asked, a keeper of a 200 year old tradition to keep bees, a query which is one of the most common questions I’ve always received in Moslem countries I have passed through in the world, when they find out that I have spent my life travelling and when I answered no, the old man said: “Ah, he’s lucky then, free from worries and responsibility.”

In many Moslem countries an answer like that from me would have put me in a 30 minute interrogation regarding this odd behaviour. The same applies to the religious issue, which is always the main question you always get in a Moslem country. In Oman they respect your answer and don’t continue to pursue the issue even if they disagree. The Omani people are a very dignified and respectful people. So far, I am in awe over this country, its people and coming here is the best choice I have done in a long time. My Arabian dream has been awaken again and I am eager to get into Rub Al-Khali soon. Until then I will enjoy the coast of Oman and its fruits. And yes, the generosity of the people have made me put on a lot of fat again, so I guess I am getting prepared in every way. But, yes, when it comes to camels, I am still very stupid!