Download or read book Crossing the Empty Quarter written by Mark Evans and published by . This book was released on 2016-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 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.
Download or read book Arabia Felix written by Bertram Thomas and published by Hesperides Press. This book was released on 2008-11 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1932, ARABIA FELIX. WITH A FOREWORD BY T. E. LAWRENCE T.E.S.AND APPENDIX BY SIR ARTHUR KEITH, F.R.S., M.D., ETC.CONTAINING ALSO MAPS, CHARTS, DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. CONTENTS: CHAPTER PAGE FOREWORD xv PREFACE xxi INTRODUCTION xxiiiI. A PROPITIOUS START AND AN EARLYCHECK iEmbarkation Disembarkation The need for secrecyTrouble in the Interior My plans unfolded My envoysleave.II. AT DHUFAR: ANARCHY, TREACHERY ANDHOSPITALITY 8The settled tribes of Dhufar History of Dhufar Tribalanarchy Hegemony of Sultan established Arrival of atyrantA tyrant rules and his sons are murdered Orderrestored Arab instability A visit to Salala A Asocialfunction Giant ancestors The price of freedomAnegro dance The Bathing Chorus.III. SKULL MEASURING AND DEVIL DANCING 22Racial types PreIslamic Ciyilisatioixs A fathers skullTaking headmeasurements Social distinctions A warriors pride, and his needs The Governor of Dhufar Theunco guid in Arabia Exorcism Negro customs Institutions of slavery Mourning ceremonies The dance of the slave girls The climax The evil spirit is exorcised.IV. IN THE QARA MOUNTAINS: AIN AR RIZAT 36Hunting prospects Preparation of specimens Earlier ilisatjons Ancient graves A son of the free Offerings tospirits Pagan cults Lying, picking and stealing A courageous collector Evil spirits Sitting up for hyena.CONTENTSCHAPTER PAGEV. IN THE QARA MOUNTAINS. ANCIENT SURVIVALS AND THE BLOOD SACRIFICE 46 Ibn Battutas views Hadoram and Hazramaveth Forestclad mountains Unruly camels Peril from snakes Rockcaves An offer of marriage A pleasant valley A tribaldance A hyena slain Costly mourning ceremonies AnArab wake Local laws of inheritance The wifes dutiesand rights.VL THE QARAMOUNTAINS. HYENAS, FAITHCURES AND CIRCUMCISION. 58 Poisonous snakes Food customs The riding camel of awitch The gazelle and the hyena The offence of the ape Demands on my medicine chest Restitutip.a.of, conjugalrights A cure for varicose veins The cautery Theftana pillage Tribesmen and nontribesmen The camelof Salih bin Hut the origin of the Qara Christian traditions Sons of Adam male circumcision Hair customs Female adornments An old ladys handbag Flirtation punished Social conventions love lyrics.VII. THE QARA MOUNTAINS. .EXORCISING THEEVIL EYE AND ORDEAL BY FIRE 77Camping in the mountains Camels and cattle Sheep andgoats Exorcism of the Evil Eye Veterinary methodsThe Qara at KhiyuntLocal law and custom Atonement for blood The law of hospitality The oath on theQuran The ordeal by fire The furnace of affliction.Belief in witchcraft Gossip with a murderer.VIII. THE QARA MOUNTAINS. FAREWELL, 91MaaraJcustrnsA case of snakebite A case for aphysician Lying up for panther The sacrifice of bloodMarriage customs, divorce, remarriage and marriedwomens property Betrothal customs The Bait Qutuntrouble Camp at FuzahMurder in cold blood Thepsychology and ethics of the bloodfeud Morning at Arbotvi.
Download or read book Arabian Sands written by Wilfred Thesiger and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Empty Quarter written by Harry St. John Bridger Philby and published by . This book was released on 1933 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Immeasurable World written by William Atkins and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2018-07-24 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (UK) "William Atkins is an erudite writer with a wonderful wit and gaze and this is a new and exciting beast of a travel book."—Joy Williams In the classic literary tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Geoff Dyer, a rich and exquisitely written account of travels in eight deserts on five continents that evokes the timeless allure of these remote and forbidding places. One-third of the earth's surface is classified as desert. Restless, unhappy in love, and intrigued by the Desert Fathers who forged Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert, William Atkins decided to travel in eight of the world's driest, hottest places: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazkahstan, the Black Rock and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest, and Egypt's Eastern Desert. Each of his travel narratives effortlessly weaves aspects of natural history, historical background, and present-day reportage into a compelling tapestry that reveals the human appeal of these often inhuman landscapes.
Download or read book Crossing the Sands written by Wilfred Thesiger and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wifred Thesiger describes his journeys in the Empty Quarter and the Arabian Peninula during the late forties. At that time few Europeans travelled in those areas and occasionally their presence was not welcome. From these journeys he emerged with a great respect for the Bedu who were his travelling companions. His writing style is masterly as he describes his journeys in a plain language which is at the same time eloquent. He shows a great understanding of and a fondness for the Bedu people and their now vanished way of life. Theiseger is also a photographer of exceptional ability and this volume contains a large number of the photographs he took on his expeditions. These and the text create a stunning picture of the land and its peoples. The author is considered the last of the great explorers and this book is an exquisite record charting his memorable adventures with travelling companions bin Kabina and bin Ghabaisha across the Arabian Empty Quarter. He was a skilled photographer and was unique among travel writers of the past in having had the opportunity to take photographs that complement his formidable writing.
Download or read book Arabia Felix written by Bertram Thomas and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is often assumed Wilfred Thesiger was the first non-Arab to cross the Rub Al Khali desert, despite doing so over a decade after Thomas and relying on the very Bedouin who Thomas used to guide him for the crossing. This edition has been completely retyped, images from the original books were scanned to improve print quality, and place-specific modern photographs included for context. Punctuation and spellings, though occasionally at odds with current usage and often inconsistent within the book have generally been kept as in the Bertram Thomas text. The expedition described in Arabia Felix is the culmination of several years of anticipation, and planning from 1926 by Bertram Thomas to achieve the first crossing by a non-Arab of the Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter desert. It might not be far-fetched in thinking that his taking employment in Oman was to be the means to that end.
Download or read book Across the Empty Quarter written by Wilfred Thesiger and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Restless, gripped by an overwhelming wish to make a name for himself in a world ever more hemmed in by progress and 'civilization', Thesiger (1910-2003) embarked on his amazing journeys across Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter to test himself and to show what could still be done. The result was a monument both to his resilience and to the Bedu who guided him and who emerge as the book's real heroes. Great Journeys allows readers to travel both around the planet and back through the centuries - but also back into ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging with writers who saw astounding things- Great civilisations, walls of ice, violent and implacable jungles, deserts and mountains, multitudes of birds and flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the world afresh, to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange to each other, where legends and stories were treated as facts and in which so much was still to be discovered.
Download or read book Grand Adventures written by Alastair Humphreys and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2016-03-24 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap’ Geographical Adventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity. Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet.
Download or read book Sand Dance written by Bruce Kirkby and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2001-02-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For forty days and forty nights during the winter of 1999, three Canadians, Bruce Kirkby, Jamie Clarke, and Leigh Clarke, along with three Omani Bedu, travelled by camel across Arabia’s great southern desert – the legendary Empty Quarter. Journeying from Salala in Oman on the Arabian Sea, they headed north and east for 1,200 kilometres across remote and largely unexplored desert wilderness, where ranges of sand dunes tower to over three hundred metres in height. When they finally reached Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf, they were received as heroes. Theirs was the first camel crossing of the Empty Quarter in over fifty years. The expedition had historic roots, since the team sought to retrace for the first time the original 1947 crossing by world-famous explorer and adventurer Sir Wilfred Thesiger. In the years since Sir Wilfred’s journey, Arabia and the Bedu have faced enormous upheaval. The discovery of oil precipitated rapid and irreversible changes to a nomadic society that had existed in relative isolation since the time of Mohammed. Travelling with their three Bedu companions, the team was afforded a rare glimpse of how these changes have affected the last of the Arabian nomads. During the desert crossing the team was determined to travel and live as authentically as possible, on camels, taking Arabic names and wearing traditional clothing, drinking their water from rank goatskins and eating mainly unleavened bread and dried camel meat. The cultural insights they were afforded are constantly fascinating – but so are the cultural clashes, since the party was often followed by Land Cruisers full of well-meaning supporters who threatened to destroy the spirit of the journey. The expedition was also full of adventure and incident – such as a hundred-foot descent down a narrow, snake-infested well, a three-day sandstorm, the sting of a desert scorpion, and the challenge of living with inescapable heat and nagging dehydration. The Empty Quarter Traverse received considerable media coverage, both nationally and internationally. In nineteen countries around the world, 22,000 school children enrolled in the team’s Internet education program, and 4.8 million people visited the expedition Web site. The trek was reported widely and was the subject of a feature story on the CBC National and a front-page colour photo story in the National Post. Now Bruce Kirkby has written a thoughtful and deeply felt account of this challenging expedition – and has illustrated it with twenty-four pages of his stunning colour photographs. Anyone interested in remote areas of the world or stirred by the romance of old-fashioned adventure and daring will find Sand Dance constantly engaging.
Download or read book Empty Quarter written by George Steinmetz and published by Harry N. Abrams. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title features striking, unique aerial photography of the one of the largest--and harshest--sand deserts in the world: the Rubʻ al-Khali in the heart of the Arabian Desert.
Download or read book Crossing the Tracks written by Barbara Stuber and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At fifteen, Iris is a hobo of sorts—no home, no family, no plan. Her mother died when she was six, and her selfish father hires her out as a companion to a country doctor’s elderly mother. Iris, stuck in the middle of 1920s rural Missouri, discovers that "hobo" is short for "homeward bound," and cultivates an eccentric cast of folks into family, creating the home she never had. But when she learns that a neighboring tenant farmer may have had more than his hands on his pregnant daughter, Iris must intervene to save the girl and her unborn baby. The many facets of what makes a family are illuminated with warmth and charm in this beautifully crafted tale.
Download or read book Microadventures Local Discoveries for Great Escapes written by Alastair Humphreys and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap’ Geographical Adventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity. Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet.
Download or read book Geology of the Oman Mountains Eastern Arabia written by Mike Searle and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-24 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes in detail numerous geological sites throughout the mountains of Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Eastern Arabia. The region is well known for its oil and gas reserves in the desert interior, and Permian-Mesozoic shelf carbonates exposed in the mountains of the Musandam peninsula, Jebel al-Akhdar and Saih Hatat, where deep wadi canyons provide impressive three-dimensional views into the crust. The region has numerous globally important geological sites, including the world’s largest and best-exposed ophiolite complex, the Semail Ophiolite, which is a vast thrust sheet of Cretaceous ocean crust and upper mantle emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin. Other sites include spectacular fossil localities, subduction zone metamorphic rocks (eclogites, blueschists, amphibolites), fold-thrust belts, giant sheath folds and Precambrian salt domes, as well as the huge sand dunes of the Rub al’Khali, the Empty Quarter, and the separate Wahiba (Sharkiyah) sandsea of Eastern Oman. Written by Mike Searle, who has worked on geological research projects throughout Oman and UAE almost every year since 1978, this book describes the field geology of each site and includes a wealth of maps, field photos and diagrams illustrating key features. It also discusses the history of exploration of Arabia and the search for its hidden geological secrets. The book provides the geological basis for the establishment of a series of World Heritage Sites, National GeoParks and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) throughout the region. As such, it is of interest to geologists, tourists, mountaineers, trekkers, rock climbers and naturalists.
Download or read book Blue Sky Kingdom written by Bruce Kirkby and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A warm and unforgettable portrait of a family letting go of the known world to encounter an unfamiliar one filled with rich possibilities and new understandings. Bruce Kirkby had fallen into a pattern of looking mindlessly at his phone for hours, flipping between emails and social media, ignoring his children and wife and everything alive in his world, when a thought struck him. This wasn't living; this wasn't him. This moment of clarity started a chain reaction which ended with a grand plan: he was going to take his wife and two young sons, jump on a freighter and head for the Himalaya. In Blue Sky Kingdom, we follow Bruce and his family's remarkable three months journey, where they would end up living amongst the Lamas of Zanskar Valley, a forgotten appendage of the ancient Tibetan empire, and one of the last places on earth where Himalayan Buddhism is still practiced freely in its original setting. Richly evocative, Blue Sky Kingdom explores the themes of modern distraction and the loss of ancient wisdom coupled with Bruce coming to terms with his elder son's diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Despite the natural wonders all around them at times, Bruce's experience will strike a chord with any parent—from rushing to catch a train with the whole family to the wonderment and beauty that comes with experience the world anew with your children.
Download or read book The French Quarter of New Orleans written by and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a native of New Orleans, displays his passion for the "French Quarter" of the city in 106 color photographs highlighting Old World architecture, style, and history that has made this section of the city famous throughout the world.
Download or read book Sultan in Oman written by Jan Morris and published by Eland Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the first crossing of the Omani desert by motorcar, as Jan Morris accompanied the Sultan on his royal progress, with the winds of change - oil and revolution - in the background.
