Trips and adventures across the Empty Quarter desert

Travels and adventures across the Empty Quarter desert The British traveler Bertram Thomas Abu Dhabi Center for Arabic Language ISBN 9789948171768 Publication date 2013 Country of publication United Arab Emirates Language Arabic Number of pages 468 Crossing the deadly desert of the Empty Quarter, a great adventure that remained in the minds of all English explorers, until the daring adventurer Bertram Thomas succeeded in the end. He was a minister to Sultan Oman, and he headed to Dhofar in 1928, then crossed the Empty Quarter in 1930. Followed by Harry St. John Philby in 1932, then Wilfred Thesiger who crossed it repeatedly between 1946-1948, making him truly the last authentic European explorer in Arabia. The team of this journey gathered in Salalah, Dhofar, consisting of twenty-eight Bedouins. Thomas was fully equipped with scientific tools, surpassing his predecessors in the exploration of Arabia. He carried, in addition to cameras, a magnetic compass, an aneroid barometer, a humidity and temperature gauge, a direction indicator, and a chronometer. He wore Bedouin clothing on this journey and avoided tobacco and alcohol to maintain a reputation of integrity, which helped him greatly. He physically adapted for his final great adventure to cross the Sahara from sea to sea, equipped with excellent knowledge, mastery of colloquial Arabic dialects, and extensive experience with Arab tribes, understanding their customs and traditions. When calculating the distances traveled, one would need to walk the distance between London and Birmingham six times to approximately equal the distance of the desert that Thomas covered in one of his exploratory campaigns.