Crossing the Empty Quarter

Book excerpt: In 1930..."Arabia's Empty Quarter constituted the broadest expanse of unexplored territory outside the Antarctic continent..." The Explorers' Club Arabia's vast Rub Al Khali desert is one of the world's most extreme and inhospitable environments, and in 1930 the race was on to become the first European to cross what is the biggest sand desert on earth The potential hardship was not to deter Bertram Thomas, the intrepid British explorer who set out to travel from south to north in the winter of 1930-31, guided by Omani Sheikh Saleh Bin Kalut al Rashidi al Kathiri. Challenged by the unknown, they walked for nearly 1,000 kilometres from Salalah on the coast of Oman, through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Doha, the capital of Qatar; it was to be the first recorded crossing, dashing the hopes of Ibn Philby.Now, some 85 years later, another team of Omanis has taken on the challenge - leading British explorer Mark Evans across the same stretch of desert. Crossing the Empty Quarter is a large format celebration of the journey in all its aspects. Combining extensive photography - both archive and contemporary - with an authoritative yet highly readable text, this book will be a unique exploration of the region as it was more than eighty years ago, and as it stands today.