Seven Continents, Seven Desert Treks

The Dry Facts

Written by Gordon Janow

SwitchYard Media, Inc. - email | website

Designed and produced by Kent Harris

Tin Can Rocket, Inc. - email | website

Courtesy G.A.P Adventures

Sahara, Africa

A vast ocean of floating dunes, the Sahara is an epic journey by any standard with physical, political, cultural and piracy challenges along the way. Most cross by jeep or motorcycle, though walking and camel caravans are still possible.

The beauty of the Sahara is its diversity -- dunes to rocky outcrops, lakes to mountains -- and cultures including Bedouins, Egyptians, Toureg and Nubians living in an area that stretches from the Atlas and Tibesti mountains to the Libyan and Erg Chebbi sub-deserts.

The Sahara's initial explorers were certainly traders who crisscrossed the desert for thousands of years. In 1906, Hanns Vischer made a historic crossing, setting out from Tripoli with 40 camels and men, passing through French and British colonies, eventually reaching the southern tip of Nigeria.

AREA: 3.3 million sq. miles, only Antarctica is a larger desert.

LOCATION: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara and Tunisia.

JOURNEY: The market city of Timbuktu in Mali is a classic launching point for the epic journey.

Luca Galuzzi

Patagonian Desert, South America

Patagonia, a name penned by Magellan, is the largest land mass south of the 40th parallel and its desert is the highest, driest place on earth. For those attracted by space, or better put, think of space as a feature unto itself, Patagonia reigns king.

This land-to-sea desert offers explorers a variety of wildlife from Armadillos to killer whales, with foxes and pumas also vying for terrain. And because the region is endowed with many lodges, there is ample opportunity to combine vigorous biking, hiking or horseback riding expeditions with luxury accomodations.

San Pedro is the central desert town and an excellent base for journeys to nearby volcanoes, glaciers or other parts beyond the desert … such as the well known mountainous region Torres Del Paine.

AREA: 260,000 sq. miles, the world's fifth largest desert.

LOCATION: Argentina and Chile, bounded by the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

JOURNEY: Dry and windy, the Patagonian is a huge source of atmospheric dust.

Lucie Debelkova

"The Empty Quarter," Middle East

The Everest of deserts, Rub Al Khali is a visually stunning landscape of Brancusi-like sand sculptures and 1,000 foot tall dunes situated in one of the most isolated, inhospitable and least explored places on earth.

The “Mallory” of the region (George Mallory is the climber believed to have made the first -- albeit ill-fated -- ascent of Everest) is Wilfred Thesiger, the Brit who entered, explored and mapped Rub Al Khali in the 1940s.

Thesiger became so enamored with "The Empty Quarter" that he went native for nearly 10 years, crisscrossing the desert and living among his beloved Bedu tribesman. Thesiger eventually wrote "Arabian Sands," among the five greatest travel books ever written.

AREA: 250,000 sq. miles.

LOCATION: Eastern Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

JOURNEY: In ancient times caravans of aromatic frankincense, which is used in religious rights and in incense and perfume, crossed this desert.

Andrew Mandemaker

Antarctica

James Cook%27s circumnavigation of Antarctica, completed in 1775, is one of the great discovery feats of history. Not only was Antarctica deemed a continental-sized land mass, but it sparked an era of great exploration. Along with invigorating the imagination as to what truly lies down below, eventually sealers and whalers ventured south.

The litany of adventurers who put their mark on Antarctica include Cook, Bellingshausen, Wedell, and Shackleton. Wedell made forays deep into the Antarctic, which enticed and taunted a generation of explorers to seek the magnetic South Pole.

Shackleton came within 97 miles of the pole, and Roald Amundsen reached it in 1911. Shackleton later tried in 1914 with his ship the Endurance -- an epic journey that ended with his crew trapped by ice.

AREA: 5.4 million sq. miles, the world's largest desert.

GEOGRAPHY: 98 percent of Antarctica is covered in ice.

JOURNEY: In 2000, Anne Bancroft and Lee Arnsens skied 2,400 miles across. For those not ready to take on the entire continent, ski expeditions to the pole and climbs of 16,000 foot-high Mt. Vinson -- one of the seven summits -- are possible.

Tensaibuta

Great Victoria, Australia

The mighty Victoria, a raging red furnace of color and green shrubbery, seems like a Georgia O’Keefe painting come to life. Dry with an extreme temperature range, the Great Victoria has few inhabitants and is known for a diverse lizard population.

Much of the territory is accessible by dirt roads, traveling east-west. The famed British explorer, Ernest Giles gets credit for most of the mapping and exploration. The key feature for the explorer and modern traveler is the remoteness amidst extreme natural beauty.

Once off the dirt road, all sense of civilization disappears and you see the land as the aboriginals do -- a speck among the great earth. As in Herzog’s “ Where Green Ants Dream” ( a sad tale of mining in a sacred portion of the Australian desert), the heat, color and dryness sap our desire for the man-made and link us to the great Outback beyond cities and towns.

AREA: 165,000 sq. miles.

LOCATION: Southwest Australia.

JOURNEY: With summer temperatures near 100 degrees fahrenheit, and little annual rain, only a few indiginious peoples live in the desert.

Western River Expeditions, Moab Adventure

Great Basin, North America

The American Southwest and neighboring deserts are America’s atavistic icon of the great desert. Beyond the western towns and cowboy ballads is a stunning and harsh homage to space. Architecture critic Reyner Banham’s “Scenes in America%27s Deserts" is perhaps the best roadmap, linking mythic imagery to our understanding of the quiet beauty of America's landscape.

The Great Basin is really a series of smaller basins that reach out to nearby deserts. Often called barren, this is far from the truth given the native plant life, geology and desert critters. Much of the region has, and still is inhabited by native Americans.

Chaco Canyon provides an intimate example of Anasazi ruins and architecture, pressed against the nearby mountains.

AREA: 200,000 sq. miles.

LOCATION: Utah, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon.

JOURNEY: Route 66 crosses the desert, but a mountain bike or horseback trip may be the best way to explore the outback. Moab, Utah is an excellent place to begin.

Petra

Thar, Asia

Overshadowed in size by the Gobi -- the other great Asian desert -- the Thar is an active, exciting and intoxicating destination. With a unique mix of raw, barren desert, small Indian villages and grand fort towns. When one dreams desert dreams of golden castles above sprawling sands, it is the image of the Thar -- seemingly a page out of the Arabian Nights.

The Thar is accessible by camel or jeep, setting camp along the way or lodging in small villages. Most of the villages hold a prominent place in Hindu mythology and evenings are often filled with village elders, reciting tales by campfire.

Away from the villages and golden ramparts of the capital, Jaiselmer, travelers can go days without seeing another human. Of all the desert journeys this may be the most provocative and accessible.

AREA: 77,000 sq. miles.

LOCATION: Western India, mostly in the state of Rajistan, and eastern Pakistan.

JOURNEY: Camel trekking and eco-tourism, particularly around Jaisalmer, has become popular.

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