The Lost Oases

The Lost Oases PDF

Author: A. Hassanein Bey

Publisher: Long Riders Guild Press

Published: 2006-01

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 9781590481462

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Despite their dangerous appeal, there are a few desolate places in the world that call to a man, daring him to return to their deadly beauty again and again. The world s last unexplored desert held such an allure for the remarkable author of this book. At the dawning of the 20th century the vast desert of Libya remained one of last unexplored places on Earth. Because travel was restricted by the distance camels could trek between wells, vast portions of the Libyan interior were still blank spots on the map. Enter Sir Ahmed Mohammed Hassanein, the dashing Egyptian diplomat turned explorer. Having befriended the Muslim leaders of the elusive Senussi Brotherhood who controlled the deserts further on, Hassanein became aware of rumours of a lost oasis which lay even deeper in the desert. In 1923 the explorer led a small caravan on a remarkable seven month journey across the centre of Libya. More than two thousand gruelling miles later he emerged with marvellous tales of having not only located the lost oasis of Uweinat, but having also discovered a cave which contained ten-thousand-year-old drawings. Attributed to djinns, these Paleolithic images depicted a flourishing, but now extinct, pastoral world inhabited by giraffes, ostriches, gazelles, even cows, but no camels. Yet the most startling image depicted human beings swimming in what had become a forbidding desert. Amply illustrated with photographs taken by the author, this is a timeless account of a hazardous journey across the great sand sea.

LOST OASES

LOST OASES PDF

Author: A. M. Hassanein Bey

Publisher: Long Riders' Guild Press

Published: 2006-01

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 9781590482902

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Despite their dangerous appeal, there are a few desolate places in the world that call to a man, daring him to return to their deadly beauty again and again. The world's last unexplored desert held such an allure for the remarkable author of this book. At the dawning of the 20th century the vast desert of Libya remained one of last unexplored places on Earth. Because travel was restricted by the distance camels could trek between wells, vast portions of the Libyan interior were still blank spots on the map. Enter Sir Ahmed Mohammed Hassanein, the dashing Egyptian diplomat turned explorer. Having befriended the Muslim leaders of the elusive Senussi Brotherhood who controlled the deserts further on, Hassanein became aware of rumours of a "lost oasis" which lay even deeper in the desert. In 1923 the explorer led a small caravan on a remarkable seven month journey across the centre of Libya. More than two thousand gruelling miles later he emerged with marvellous tales of having not only located the "lost" oasis of Uweinat, but having also discovered a cave which contained ten-thousand-year-old drawings. Attributed to djinns, these Paleolithic images depicted a flourishing, but now extinct, pastoral world inhabited by giraffes, ostriches, gazelles, even cows, but no camels. Yet the most startling image depicted human beings swimming in what had become a forbidding desert. Amply illustrated with photographs taken by the author, this is a timeless account of a hazardous journey across the great sand sea.

The Lost Oasis

The Lost Oasis PDF

Author: Saul Kelly

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2009-04-20

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0786747242

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The Lost Oasis tells the true story behind The English Patient. An extraordinary episode in World War II, it describes the Zerzura Club, a group of desert explorers and adventurers who indulged in desert travel by early-model-motor cars and airplanes, and who searched for lost desert oases and ancient cities of vanished civilizations. In reality, they were mapping the desert for military reasons and espionage. The club's members came from countries that soon would be enemies: England and the Allied Forces v. Italy and Germany. When war erupted in 1939, Ralph Bagnold founded the British Long Range Desert Group to spy on and disrupt Rommel's advance on Cairo, while a fellow club member, Hungarian Count Almasy, succeeded in placing German spies there. Ultimately, the British prevailed. Saul Kelly's riveting history draws on interviews with survivors and previously unknown documentary material in England, Italy, Germany, Hungary, and Egypt. His book reads like a thriller -- with one key difference: it's all true.

Lost Oasis

Lost Oasis PDF

Author: Robert Twigger

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2010-05-27

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0297863878

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Bestselling author of ANGRY WHITE PYJAMAS, BIG SNAKE and VOYAGEUR enters into the desert in search of a lost oasis 'Last night my son wanted to appease me because of some annoyance he had caused. "Show me your desert things," he said, "show me your crystals and stones." However tired and grumpy I might be, he knew how to revive me. I unwrapped everything from its newspaper roll. The chipped flint knives, the silica glass arrowheads, ancient porous pottery shards I'd found in the Gilf, fossils, the jawbone of a gazelle, palm nuts so desiccated they were like stone . . .' Robert Twigger's latest journey is in search of paradise: a desert adventure in the footsteps of seasoned explorers such as Theodore Almasy (the Inspiration for THE ENGLISH PATIENT) who tried to locate the lost oasis of Zezura, reportedly home to hoards of treasure, flocks of birds and a lush, verdant valley. The Egyptian Sahara is one of the most arid and hostile environments on earth. But it is also a wonder of desolate beauty, where in the ultra-clear light of the desert you can see for miles. Armed with plenty of water and a homemade wooden trolley (his Lada being too heavy for the sand), Twigger embarks on a desert trip ilke no other . . .

The Hunt for Zerzura

The Hunt for Zerzura PDF

Author: Saul Kelly

Publisher: John Murray Publishers

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780719561627

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This is a study of the true story behind The English Patient, one of the least known and most extraordinary episodes of World War II.;In the 1930s, the Zerzura Club (named after a lost oasis in the Libyan desert) met once a year for dinner at the Cafe Royal in London. Ostensibly, its members were cosmopolitan adventurers indulging a craze for desert travel by motor car and aeroplane, and searching for the lost oases and ancient cities of a vanished civilization. In reality they were mapping the desert for military reasons, marking vital wells and checking terrain. The Club's members were drawn from countries that would soon be enemies, and fellowship masked a vicious rivalry.;Mussolini hoped to make Egypt the centrepiece of a new Italian empire, but the British - for whom the Suez Canal was strategically vital, were determined to hold onto that country. When war broke out in 1939, Ralph Bagnold founded the Long Range Desert Group to spy on and disrupt the Axis powers' advance on Cairo under Rommel, while his fellow club member Count Almasy tried to spirit the Egyptian Chief of Staff out of Cairo, and succeeded in inserting German spies. Both of them were using knowledge and desert craft drawn from the hazardous hunt for the Zerzura Oasis, where each had deceived the other about his true purpose.;In telling this story, Saul Kelly draws on interviews with surviviors as well as previously unknown documentary material in Britain, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Egypt. His book reads like a thriller by John Buchan or Frederick Forsyth - with one key difference: it is true.

Lost Oases Along the Carrizo

Lost Oases Along the Carrizo PDF

Author: Elza Ivan Edwards

Publisher:

Published: 1961

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13:

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History of the long-vanished palm oases that flourished along the Carrizo Corridor of the Colorado Desert and served as waystops for Westward travellers.