New Stuff

If you are able, and have water, use that to polish your dirty bot as the Egyptians do. If you are wedded to paper use a lighter to flame it after use, or bag it and take it away. Leaving paper, as the Cologne University crew have done at their site 60 km SW of Dakhla is simply revolting. Archeologists of all people should know that paper lasts for thousands of years in dry sand- hence the buried MS in the sands at Oxyrhincus. But no, those German eggheads just kept on shitting in the same place week in week out leaving the white paper behind. The shit has gone- eaten by beetles but the paper, denuded of sand by the wind, remains.

Flame the bloody stuff. No one wants to see other peoples shitty paper in the otherwise pristine desert.

If you have to shit on a featureless sand sheet you will find you are invisible except in a very general sense when 1 km from the camp.

Wetwipe the hands to remove the inevitable. Burn or bag the wipes.

Water Bottles

If you refill from eco-friendly jerry cans rather than plastic mineral water bottles this is much easier if the neck of the water bottle is wide as with a Nalgene type water bottle. These also come with ‘feeder’ tops so that you can slug as you walk without looking like a baby that’s spilt his drink down his front.

Sigg type bottles have narrow necks and dent easily though they look good. The narrow neck makes refilling a pain. Avoid at all costs imitation Siggs as the threads strip and they quickly become useless. One litre Nalgenes and other secure wide topped plastic bottles are probably the best bottles.

In Egypt you can very cheaply buy a soft insulated carrier that will take any kind of bottle including a Nalgene. Or you could make your own insulator out of a strip of carrymat glued to the bottle. Leave the water out over night and it will, with the insulated cover remain deliciously cool all day.

The Bedouin have improved on their old leaky guerba that used to drip water and by evaporation remain cool. They stitch a quilt cover around a cleaned out oil container and soak it in water. The evaporation keeps the water cool even in 40 degree heat.

The desert can get mighty cold in winter- down to 0 degrees at times, but more likely in the + 5 to +12 degree Celsius range. Contrast this with the sunny day and the usual desert breeze and you’ll be cold without a decent bag.

Even in May, when daytime temperatures were over 40 degrees Celsius I didn’t find the night particularly warm. Having a thermarest is nice but strangely it doesn’t seem to matter as much as when sleeping on damp earth, maybe because the sand is dry. Any kind of mattress works, or none, though obviously you’ll be a bit warmer if raised above the ground.

Get a four season bag- down or artificial- that is guaranteed down to –10 degrees or even if you are a cool bod, down to -15. Manufaturers are usually over optimistic and do their rating with the mummy hood fully up and drawn around the face. If you fancy sleeping a bit more freely get a warmer bag- but always with a full length zip so you can regulate it if it’s too hot. Go for a recognised brand such as Rab, Ajungilak or Black’s.

Just how much water does a human need?

We read of desert runners drinking ten litres of water in a twelve hour period. I did it once and the next day I was vomiting and feeling very poorly. If you suddenly start imbibing massive amounts of liquid you will feel disoriented and ill and not up for much exploring. Also, when you read of massive water intake it is during the summer. Which we never visit the Sahara during. In the winter you need much less water.

More importantly you must drink it at the optimum time for absorption. This is known intuitively by the Bedouin. They don’t sip sip sip all day long. They drink in the early morning and in the evening and that’s that. The rest of the time they down countless cups of tea.

Tea is the secret rocket fuel of the desert. Made with lots of sugar it resets the body’s dehydration meter. In simple terms, if you drink unadulterated water it passes rapidly through the system. If you also drink tea the water you also drink gets processed into deep rehydration rather than for mere cooling activity.

Sipping a bit as you walk is fine- but just to keep your mouth and lips from drying out. Swilling the water around before swallowing it works well.

The water you drink you want to count. You don’t want it to be burnt off instantly as sweat. So you must remain cool, do not over exert yourself. Watch how the Bedouin cover up and avoid too much sun. I’ve never seen a desert dweller in shorts and a T-shirt. The only time a Bedouin would ever strip off is maybe when they’re digging out a well in summer.

We allow 3 litres a day for drinking in the first few days as you adjust to a dry atmosphere. The temperatures at night can be as low as 5 degrees C. During the day it may reach 25-27 degrees. Often there is a cooling breeze. As long as you not over exerting yourself you will not dehydrate. In fact I’ve seen people arrive who are already dehydrated (by lifestyle and alcohol intake) who actually rehydrate in the desert on 3 litres a day. This does not include cooking and tea for which we allow another 2 litres per person. The 8th Army, who fought in the Sahara throughout the summer during WW2 allowed 3 litres per man for cooking, drinking and tea.

Remember- if you’re sweating in the desert in winter you are doing something wrong. If you’re not sweating you don’t need much more water than you usually drink at home during a moderate summer.

A Classy Compass

Those brought up on the Silva type compass might be surprised to discover that there are far superior machines out there to aid desert navigators. Typically handheld yachting compasses are easier to use and more accurate. The silva is great for transferring a bearing from a route on a map but when it comes to sighting up, even if you stick both fingers out along each edge it is possible to make errors of up to five degrees. Whilst this is acceptable when orienteering where there will be geographical features to cross reference from off the map, this is not accurate enough for the most demanding tasks of the desert. The Plastimo Iris 50 is a great yachting compass that hangs around the neck and can be read even at night. It is wonderfully accurate and very easy to use.

Walking on a Bearing

In the desert you may walk on the same bearing for several days. To do this accurately you need to sight up on a distant feature such as a dune or mountain and then walk towards it. You can also take a back sight of the landmark you have just left in order to check you aren’t going off course. If you need to go around obstacles simply note the number of paces you need to deviate left or right as either a plus or minus figure. At the next landmark you can calculate the total of this and work out how much you need to correct your course.

Finding your way in the Sahara by using the stars

In the northern latitudes the Great Bear points to the pole star and makes navigation at night easy – as long as there is no cloud. In the Sahara the Great bear doesn’t rise above the horizon until very late at night so other methods are called for.

Find the ‘M’ shaped constellation Cassiopeia and track down the second stroke of the ‘M’. Make a slight bend to the right and you will be at the Pole star. Check after twenty minutes- it will be the only star that hasn’t moved.

To walk on a star bearing simply find the pole star and then turn in the direction you want to walk. Look for a star above the direction you want to go in. After twenty minutes, find the pole star again, turn the same rotational distance and find a new star to follow.

To read the time of night watch how Cassiopeia and the Great Bear rotate around the Pole Star like the hands of giant clock.

Finding your position without a GPS

If you have a sextant you can use this, with tables, to calculate both latitude and longitude. Without a sextant it becomes a little more tricky.

If you sight up along a stick to the pole star and record the angle the stick makes with the ground that will be your latitude more or less. To find your longitude requires at least some knowledge of clock time and sunrise times. If you know the sunrise time at a location whose longitude you also know (such as Cairo or London) on whose Latitude you more or less share, you can calculate your position by the difference in times between the two sunrises. Every minute of difference is equivalent to be about 100km on the ground.

More boot yarns

Boots can be the deciding factor between fun and torment on a desert journey. Though sandals are best probably for hardened feet, they are really better suited as the back up to a pair of reliable boots. Bedouin walk in sandals and nylon socks, or no socks if it is hot- but our feet seem to be made of softer stuff.

A good roomy boot with two pairs of wool socks is my preference- but then I am an inveterate sufferer from blisters if I stray from this standard. Tougher folk survive with one pair of socks- but the boot must be worn in first- the desert is no place to try out new boots.

Desert boots- meaning suede uppers and ordinary boot soles allow a lot of moisture to escape- and it is moisture that causes blisters. Army types prefer the Meindl Desert Fox- which in practice is an excellent boot.

Brasher boots I have observed are good for a day or two but are cut too narrow and unforgiving for many days walking. Trainers admit too much sand and also allow sand into the lining which reduces the shoe size and can be a real killer.

Walking on sand

Walking on sand is tougher than walking across a springy moor in the UK. Sand can get in the boot and cause nasty rubbing- though with a sewn in tongue this is unlikely. Sand gives, a bit, but it allows of a repetitive walking action that seems to speed up blister formation and tire the feet rather more than walking on a more forgiving surface. If you walk 10 km on sand it will feel further- especially after several days of such walking.