Wild Camel Protection Foundation

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Arrived back at Tripoly on the 5th February. In total the trip took 100 days and covered 1460 miles. All done on Camels

After being held up for a day at the border town of Tummo the expedition team and camels arrived safely in Libya on the 12th December, after an amazing and very tough journey through the northern Niger. Since leaving Bilma in northern Niger there was no fresh grass for the camels and very little water.The camels had to be hand feed once they left Bilma and as a result lost most of their condition. Travelling to Tejerri in southern Libya they were still hand feeding the camels and found the first fresh food just south of Tejerri. Sadly they lost one of the camels which choked on a corn husk.

Between Tejerri and Al Gatrun, on the 18th December, the expedition was joined by Mr Carsten Peter a German nature photographer assigned by National Geographic to cover the expedition. He will ride with the expedition for three weeks. I hope he takes some excellent photographs, certainly good enough to get into an issue of National Geographic.

The expedition was stopped by security police just outside Al Gatrun and ended up celebrating Christmas day outside Al Gatrun with a wonderful hamper from Fortnum and Masons. The hamper came as a delicious change after a diet of goat, goats entrails and noodles. They have journeyed riding camels for over 1550miles and if they can keep travelling without any further delays, then they should finish the expedition the end of this month or early February.

They are currently crossing the Fezzan, the fertile area in southern Libya. Ahead of them is the long section of desert, the last tough part of the journey, crossing south to north the Hamadat al Hamrah, a high desert area. One surprise for the team members has been the has been the weather in Libya. The prevailing winds are north easterly and are therefore blowing off snow and ice as far south as Greece and Turkey. This means the temperatures in the desert are dropping well below zero after 3.00pm in the afternoon. All the
members of the team are finding it very very cold, especially with the contrast of the hot morning and midday temperatures.

There will not be a further update until the expedition reaches Mizda which is just south of Tripoli the final destination of the expedition.

Bilma

Arrived Bilma on 20th November and had a much needed rest after riding over 500 miles on camels.
At Bilma they filled up the water containers and also bought food for the camels.

Last contact was on the 3rd November, north of Bilma halfway to the border, approximately seven days from Tummo the border town between Niger and Libya.The country in this part of Niger is much wilder, stony deserts and mountains. The scenery is magnificent and they have seen much rock art. It is very hard going as there is little water and no food for the camels except what they are carrying.

The team are tired but in good heart and will be very pleased to reach the border on or around the 10th December.The plan is to arrive in Al Gatrun on the 16th December and rest for a few days. At Al Gatrun in Libya some of the camels and guides will return to Agadez in Niger and the expedition team will have to restock and obtain food and water for the journey north through Libya.

The girls at Benenden School asked questions of the expedition and the answers are shown here

I have heard from the team. They arrived safely in Bilma on the 20th
November.

They managed to travel most of the way from Nguigmi to Bilma riding the camels approximately 450 miles. At Bilma they rested, filled up the water bags from the well there and bought grass, food for the camels for the next stage of the trek.

The next stage north to the border will be very tough going with more walking and less riding of the camels. They departed Bilma on Saturday 24th November and if all goes well they should arrive at Tummo on the border with Libya in two weeks on or around the 5th December.

They are all well and very fit. No injuries or illnesses I am pleased to report.

Diet seems to consist of goat, goats entrails, delicious I am told, noodles and macaroni and dates.

Still very very hot during the day 106 to 110 F and cold enough at night for them all to be glad of the arctic sleeping bags.

Desert wild beautiful, pristine and the skies so clear at night they can see millions of stars. All the people they have meet have been very friendly and hospitable.

At the moment they are north of Nguigmi travelling through scrubby country, semi-desert. They are riding camels and averaging 18 miles a day which is very good. They are fit and well within their timetable. If it continues this way, they should arrive in Bilma around the 21st November. They will need to rest there for a 2/3 few days after the 18day trek and also, the next stage north to the border is through country and it will be very tough going. They will also have to walk more so the daily average of miles travelled will be lower.

At the moment it is very very hot during the middle of the day with temperatures well over 40-45 C. It is much too hot to ride during the day and even hot when resting. The nights are very cold and they are glad of the arctic sleeping bags.

Nguigmi
I asked John what Nguigmi was like as everyone was interested and he said quote " two mud huts and a bit of thatch" However the people have been very kind and friendly.

Food
When he telephoned they had just finished a delicious breakfast of goats entrails. They had good food in Nigeria with fruit and vegetables. Now it is mainly goat, and noodles.

They have 25 camels and it takes one whole hour to load them before they set out. There are five Niger people travelling with them as guides and I think a cook.

We have received word that the team have arrived in good health in Nguigmi on the 30th as planned. Once they have rested and finalised the arrangements regarding the camels, guides, saddles, and food they plan to depart Nguigmi on the 1st November.

On the 21st they departed Nairobi for Lagos and Maiduguri and finally Kukawa.They arrived safely and reached Kukawa well within the expedition timetable. In Kukawa they hired camels for the first stage of the expedition, the trek along the western side of Lake Chad from Kukawa in Nigeria to Nguigmi in Niger. They departed Kukawa on the 24th. They planned to walk and ride the camels during this first stage of the expedition. The country is not harsh desert and they also planned to observe the effects of desertification on Lake Chad.

This stage of the journey from Kukawa to Nguigmi in Niger was scheduled to take 5 to 6 days. The reason they had to hire camels here was it was not possible to puchase camels in Kukawa, which would be good enough for the major trek south to north through Niger. Also guides have only local knowledge and therefore new guides would have to be hired in Nguigmi.

It was therefore decided to purchase camels in Niger and use them for the Niger and hopefully Libya section of the expedition.

It was a fairly close run exercise getting Professor Yuan from Heathrow to the north Terminal Gatwick in time to catch the Kenyan flight. We made it with some time to spare. In fact Johnny Paterson was the last to arrive.

The team John Hare, Professor Yuan and Johnny Paterson and their numerous pieces of luggage, tents etc., left England late evening of Tuesday the 16th October for Nairobi.

They stayed at Ol Maisor a ranch in northern Kenya belonging to the fourth member of the expedition team, the camel expert Jasper Evans.