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EGYPT: RE-ENACTMENT OF GERHARD ROHLFS’ 1874 DESERT EXPEDITION
FROM DAKHLA OASIS TO SIWA OASIS.
The Explorers School announces its major expedition for winter 2009/10: the complete re-enactment of the 1874 Rohlfs’ expedition with camels. By Egyptian desert standards this is a huge expedition.
There are only seven places on this expedition. Applicants need to be enthusiastic, good humoured and able to walk or walk/ride 25km a day, every day, with one rest day every seven days out. They need to be able to pay or raise sponsorship for the £3,000 expedition price. The expedition starts and finishes in Cairo and runs from 27 December 2009 to 31 January 2010. To apply for a place contact Richard Mohun, email: richard@theexplorerschool.com
To our knowledge it has only been done once by camel since Rohlfs’ expedition in 1874. This is the ultimate camel and desert journey in simply one of the most beautiful and untouched places left on Earth.
Further information and maps under: Deserts
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Oxford Times interview: The Explorer School and the Rohlfs Expediiton
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At Confluence Point N25 E28
Experiences from our last Egypt Desert Expedition from Dakhla oasis-
"Just a quick note to thank you for a great trip. It was a real privilege and I really, really enjoyed the whole thing. Great, genial group as well and it was a shame it had to end" Helen W., London.
“The whole trip was a unique and remarkable adventure – truly memorable” Ifor R., Oxford
"Had a great time and would love to do it again" George P., London
"Many of us chose to sleep out in the open where we could lay and look in wonder at the stars .....it's hard to put in words how brilliant the night sky is and I'd never seen the Milky Way so clearly ....we had to learn skills such as tracking, direction finding by the sun ....desert bread-making and survival skills bedouin-style" .
On reaching the confluence point: " A fantastic way to top off a great expedition", Bob and Spencer T., Cardiff.
"Thank you for the opportunity to escape into the beautiful desert nothingness; it is everything! Although we saw no one, but no one, for 11 days, the artifacts, remains of dwellings and rock inscriptions that were all in relative abundance during the expedition, conveyed the presence of those who had lived in this land and gone before us. The desert is addictive; thank you for the fix!" John C., Leeds
The Explorer School is a new concept in travel and skill acquisition.
Instead of being the passive consumer of a unique travel experience we teach you how to make those experiences happen for yourself.
At the same time we go on a genuine trip of exploration, combining learning with an expedition. Different environments will offer opportunities for different experiences and the development of new skills.
So, this may not be the website for you. Really.
We are not a Tour company.
We don’t offer cheap thrills.
Or even expensive thrills.
We don’t keep you separate from the real nitty-gritty of travelling.
Every trip we make is different, in fact, unique.
We work with nomads and natives who don’t speak a word of English.
Luckily we do.
Our current focus is on desert expeditions in Egypt where we go into unvisited areas of the Sahara, travelling with camels - not sitting passively in 4x4s speeding across the sand and cut off from the environment. Further details below and under the Deserts section.
We believe that travel is about the experience, not just notching up another 'sight' or far off destination. But experience comes at a cost - learning something new. That's why at The Explorer School we offer expedition learning experiences, which is a cumbersome way of saying you are actively encouraged to participate and learn new skills, both ancient and modern, while making a genuine journey of exploration.
These journeys are not packaged rides through scenic terrain; for example, our desert expeditions are genuine trips into the little visited and unrecorded areas of the desert. We simply don't know what we may discover - old camel routes, nomad graves, rock art or stone age encampments. What we do know is that you will have the experience of a lifetime that will also enable you to make similar trips alone.
We don't want to make you dependent on commerce to explore the world - we aim to liberate you through giving you skills that we ourselves have acquired over time.
Desert Expeditions in the Sahara
Our desert expeditions are in a very
special place - the super arid region of the Sahara desert in SW Egypt.
On every trip we’ve made so far, and we’ve made a few, we have never encountered another human being, let alone a tourist, during our 10-14 day desert expedition.
That’s right - none. Call it the zero option. For company we look to
ourselves and the native Bedouin of the region who come with us.
We travel with Bedouin from the remotest Oasis in Egypt. Most are
illiterate, all are engaging and friendly - world class experts in what they
do - travelling with camels in the Sahara desert. They’ll show you how to
walk using the stars and how to read a camel track in the sand. Great
drummers too.
From us, your intermediary guide/teachers/navigators you will learn all you
need to know to make such journeys on your own. We don’t aim to enslave you
with ignorance, we aim to liberate you with knowledge. Next time we might
meet you out there with camels of your own.
No people? So what do we see out there?
Sand. Quite a lot of that.
Stone age tools that date from 400,000 to 5,000 years ago. Rock carvings of
animals such as giraffe, that disappeared from the desert during the last
wet spell over 7000 years ago. Hieroglyphs carved into rock faces after
mysterious Pharonic excursions into the desert. Hut circles and burial
places.
Fennec foxes, gerbils and gerboas.
Falcons, lizards, locusts and the odd beetle.
No flies and no mosquitoes. Like people, once you leave the Oasis there are zero parasites on the human being. The Desert is the cleanest place on earth.
Water mountains and spring mounds and dry lakes - the remains of the wet periods. Grinding querns and pestles. Hills and canyons and eroded outcrops of towering rock.
Quite simply one of the most beautiful and untouched places left on Earth.