Wilfred Thesiger was born a few centuries too late, given his enterprising spirit and his thirst for the pristine lands, untouched by human development. His is the temperament and the dogged determination that had led men to reject the comfort of home and the perks of civilized society and prefer to sweat and toil in the harshest climates for no other reason that the maps showed a blank space in that region. Empires were built by men like Thesiger, driven by the need to claim to be the first to set foot on that mountain peak or that Southern Pole or that uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere. It is also true that one of the less endearing characteristic of these British explorers is their ability to ignore the local populations that lived in those same places for millenia. Only the European foot counted in their history books. Wilfred Thesiger is the exception to the rule, as his explorations were concerned almost as much with getting to know and becoming integrated with the local tribes as they were about the physical distances travelled. I will get back to this.By the time he finished his education (1930's) most of white spots on the maps had dissapeared with only the most forbidding lands still putting in a claim to virgin integity: the summit of the Everest, the Mariana Trench, the Amazonian jungles. Thesiger set his sights on the desert. A childhood spent in Abbysinia and a few years exploring the Sahara and the Horn of Africa prepared him for the biggest challenge of all : Rub al Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter, the most desolate land on the whole planet. In Africa he learned how to spend a whole day perched on the high and uncomfortable saddle of a camel, how to endure the heat and the thirst and the frozen nights, how to speak Arabic - the common language across the whole Muslim world. Arabian Sands is the account of his five years, between 1945 and 1950, spent crossing the Empty Quarter in the traditional way, guided by local Bedu tribesmen, without mechanized transport or modern communication devices, carrying all the water and the food on the back of camels. For me exploration was a personal venture. I did not go to the Arabian desert to collect plants nor to make a map; such things were incidental. At heart I knew that to write or even to talk of my travels was to tarnish the achievement. I went there to find peace in the hardship of desert travel and the company of desert people. [...] No, it is not the goal but the way there that matters, and the harder the way the more worth while the journey. 'Because it exists' sums up for me the argument regarding why Thesiger went to the desert, at least according to his own account. Left out of the narrative, but rather obvious from the wiki page of he author, is that his travels were most probably sponsored by the British Foreign Office, who was interested in the possibilities of moving around the Arabian Peninsula in case of future conflicts, and by the big oil companies who were beginning their involvmement in exploration and exploitation of the valuable resource. I'll get back to the oil later.The memoir is important to me for two reasons :- firstly, Thesiger is not only a daring explorer, but also a suprisingly articulate and lyrical writer. I believe only St Exupery surpasses him when it comes to the spiritual joy the desert awakens in the a man who finds himself hundreds of miles away from the nearest inhabited land. He has included in his present memoir not only the hardships of the travel and the dry enumeration of places and distances and weather reports, but the history of the peninsula, the way the climate and the economic issues had shaped the culture of the nomadic herders, the political changes brought about by the liberation from the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent creation of national Arab states, the balance between personal vendettas among the tribes and larger mmovements by the most powerful sheiks. Last, but not least, Thesiger is a good photographer, working well with black and white film to capture the desert landscape, the pure-bred camels, the faces of the tribesmen and the cities on the coast. Next morning while we were leading our camels down a steep dune face I was suddenly conscious of a low vibrant hum, which grew in volume until it sounded as though an aeroplane were flying low over our heads. The frightened camels plunged about, tugging at their head-ropes and looking back at the slope above us. The sound ceased when we reached the bottom. This was he singing of the sands. The Arabs describe it as a roaring, which is perhaps a more descriptive word. During the five years that I was in these parts I only heard it half a dozen times. It is caused, I think, by one layer of sand slipping over another. - secondly, the world depicted in the book is one on the verge of extinction. By 'going native', dressing in local garb, speaking the local dialect, sharing the work, the food and the campfire with his Bedu guides, Thesiger has imersed himself completely in a culture that was already under attack from sheiks cracking down on raiders who got their wealth from attacking caravans or stealing other tribes camels, from the extended draught that reduced drastically the areas of pasture in the desert, from outside money pouring in that made the camel based economy (travel, milk, meat) bankrupt. I don't know if the author showed amazing powers of clairvoyance, or he simply put in the text (written some 10 years after the journeys) later information about the effect of petrodollars pouring in and drastically changing the Gulf states social order, but he predicted the marginalization and the destitution of the nomads lifestyle that had endured unchanged for millenia. I realized that the Bedu with whom I had lived and travelled, and in whose company I had found contentment, were doomed. Some people maintain that they will be better off when they have exchanged the hardship and poverty of the desert for the security of a materialistic world. This I do not believe. I shall always remember how often I was humbled by those illiterate herdsmen who possessed, in so much greater measure than I, generosity and courage, endurance, patience, and lighthearted gallantry. Among no other people have I ever felt the same sense of personal inferiority. There is something of the outdated 'noble savage' Romantic outlook (I'm thinking of Fenimore Cooper and the last of the Mohicans) in the above quote, but the arguments Thesiger brings in support of his thesis are convincing and often heartbreaking. Most of the remaining bookmarks I have from the memoir deal not so much with the beauty of the desert but with the respect and the admiration of the author for the integrity, the endurance and the hospitality of his companions on the journey. I would encourage any reader who wants to really understand the culture of the Gulf Arabs, the importance of religion, of traditions and of family ties to pick up the book and read it before applying the usual labels of religious fanaticism and blind hatred.Thesiger doesn't try to lionize the Bedu. He is one of the first to admit that their culture is a violent one, that their temperament is fiery and suspicious of strangers, that they are prideful, quick to anger and unforgiving to their enemies. The highest respect around the campfire is for the famous raiders who laugh in the face of death: After a pause, he said, 'By God, he was a man! He knew how to fight. I thought he would kill us all.' He told us that in this raid the Mishqas had killed fourteen Yam and captured a hundred and thirty camels, and that nine Mishqas had been killed. But the same people are unequal in the world when it comes to loyalty, generosity, integrity. A Bedu would give the shirt on his back to another man, just because he thinks the other needs it more than him, he would cut down a camel for visitors and feed them even if he knows he may starve in the next weeks, he would never turn away a traveller from his campfire at night. The nomads would chat all day about their favorite camel, would laugh and joke about their empty waterskins and rice bags, would burst into song when you least expect it: God endures forever.The life of man is short.The Pleiades are overhead.The Moon's among the stars. Thesiger finds peace and contenment and spiritual solace among some of the poorest people in the world. He looks at his civilized compatriots with a critical eye for taking life for granted and feels more at home shivering under a thin blanket with an empty stomach and lips parched by thirst. I wondered why people ever cluttered up their rooms with furniture, for this bare simplicity seemed to me infinitely preferable. [...] I had everything that I could want - food, shelter, and good company after long days upon the road. and in another place: Here life moved in time with the past. These people still valued leisure and courtesy and conversation. They did not live their lives at second hand, dependent on cinema and wireless. He finds praise even for the style of leadership in the tribes: A Bedu sheikh has no paid retainers on whom he can rely to carry out his orders. He is merely the first among equals in a society where every man is intensely independent and quick to resent any hint of autocracy. His authority depends in consquence on the force of his own personality and on his skill in handling men. His position in the tribe, in fact, resembles that of a chairman of a committee meeting. Not all of the the pages in the book deal with the Empty Quarter. In between forays into the sand dunes, salt marshes and rubble plains, Thesiger spends some time in cities and more accomodating places. I;ve been to one of them myself on a day trip by car: Taif in Saudi Arabia is a mountain town where they have now some very good farms and orchards and even some tourist attractions. The land is less arrid than usual for the region, and the people are still hospitable and talkative. The other place I recognized is Abu Dhabi, but the town of today has little similarity withthe one in the book: We stayed for twenty days in Abu Dhabi, a small town of about two thousand inhabitants. Each morning the Sheikhs visited us, walking slowly across from he castle - Shakhbut, a stately figure in a black cloak, a little ahead of his brothers, followed by a throng of armed retainers. we talked for an hour or more, drinking coffee and eating sweets, and, after they had left us, we visited the market, where we sat cross-legged in the small shops, gossipping and drinking more coffee; or we wandered along the beach and watched the dhows being caulked and treated with shark-oil to prepare them for the pearling season, the children bathing in the surf, and the fishermen landing their catch. It's probably non-debatable that affluence brought by oil has improved the lifestyle of most of the people in the region, but I can't help being nostalgic and sad about the loss of cultural diversity and the preponderence of materialistic considerations in today's world. The last picture is one I took on my return from Taif:
أحاديث حميمية لويلفرد عن الصحراء العربية والبدو وسبب تأليفه الكتاب مع بعض الصورhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pfzZC...لم أتوقّع أني سأعجب بهذه المذكرات، غريب حبّ ويلفرد للصحراء والأغرب حينما يتسائل وهو في أشد اللحظات جوعاً وبؤساً مع بدوِ أغراب أنه لايمكن أن يكون هنالك أفضل من هذا المكان.. لاأريد أن أكون في مكان آخر! حب الاستكشافبسم الله:تكلم في بداية الكتاب عن ارتباط حبه لحياة الاستكشاف والمغامرة الصعبة مجهولة النهاية بمولده في اثيوبيا 1910 إزّاء عمل والده هناك وبقي فيها حول 11 سنة حتى عادوا إلى بريطانيا، واستغراقه في القراءة عن افريقيا ورحلات من ذهبوا إليها جعلت حنينه إليها يزداد ليذهب بعد ذلك وهو في العشرين من عمره 1930 .. جلس في اثيوبيا ودخل مناطق لم يدخلها اوربيون قبله وشاهد آثار الحروب بين القبائل في اديس بابا..في 1935 ذهب الى السودان حينما تم تعيينه في منطقة بعيداً دارفور لانه فيها حياة منظمة وفلل وطرق وهذا لا يعجبه، يريد المغامرة والحياة المليئة بالصعاب، يقول عن نفسه: "ولقد قتلت سبعين أسداً خلال الاعوام الخمسة التي قضيتها في السودان، هذي افريقيا التي قرأت عنها عندما كنت فتى، والتي يئست من الهثور عليها عندما شاهدت الخرطوم ....."في الفصل الثاني تكلم عن لقاؤه مع أوبي لين أخصائي مكافحة الجراد الصحراوي، وكان يبحث عن شخص برافقه للجزيرة العربية.. ومن هنا بدأت الرحلة.. انطلق من ظفار في مسقط.. وتحدث عن لقاؤه بالحاكم هناك وجعل له 30 مرافقا من قبيلة "بيت كثير".. وصف هؤلاء البدو وطريقة تفكيرهم ومشاعرهم .. "ص46".. وقالوا له عن الاوروبي الذي سبقه عندهم واستضافوه "برترام توماس". صورة في عبوره للربع الخالي- يناير 1948 في الفصل الثالث سافر إلى "رمال غانم" و "موغشن" وعاد إلى صلالة ومن هناك التقى بقبيلة "الرواشد" وسافر معهم إلى حضرموت وقابل هناك "بني كبينه" الذي سيرافقه طول رحلاته والذي جعل إهداء الكتاب هذا له هو و"بن غبيشه".في هذه الرحلة بالذات تعرف على طبيعة البدو ص56 وتعجّب من معرفتهم الشديدة بالجمال ص59بعد انتهاء مدة رحلة ويلفرد الاستكشافية "حول الجراد :)" وقبل العودة إلى لندن قرر زيارة الحجاز ومكث فيها ثلاثة أشهر ذكر فيها الفرق بين المعيشتين في ذلك الوقت ، الطائف وأبها وجازان وجدّه، وبعد العجيب أنه وفي الحياة الهانئة هناك حنّ إلى التقشف وحياة الصحراء ولا يتمنى سوى العودة إليها، وهذا مافعل بعدها.عاد بعد فترة ليست بالطويلة إلى رفاقه البدو الرواشد وبني كبينه، وهنا يحكي موقفه مع الحجوز الذي استوقفهم خصيصاً ليقول: أبحث عن النصرانيّ "وهذا لقبه قبل مايسمونه مبارك" .. وجلس ينطر إليه طويلاً طويلاً بنظرة وتسائل عن هذه النظرة هل هي من أجل أنه نصراني واستكشافه هنا ليس من أجل الجراد وإنما ليساعد على غزو موطنه، وهذا ماحدث كما يقول ويلفرد، بأن استعانوا بخرائطه لمشاريع لم يحبّذها.. وتكلم في هذا الفصل كلاماً رزينا صادقاً عن الحضارة الإسلامية والإسلام من واقع تجربته ورحلاته..وعاد بعهدا لسرد مغامرته والمواقف العجيبة الطريفة الصعبة التي مرّ بها هو خصوصاً كونه غريب، ومرّوا بها جميعاً لأنها مغامرة جماعية لاستكشاف مناطق جديدة والعبور منها.. صورة للمؤلف وبعض مرافقيه وقد حوّل الكتاب بعدها إلى فيلم:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoWC5e...وهذا الموضوع فيه مراجعة ممتازة جداً للكتاب وعن مبارك بن لندنhttp://sahat-wadialali.com/vb/showthr...
What do You think about Arabian Sands (1984)?
Superb read. Was initially unsure of Rory Stewart's intro but after reading to the end I understood his views on Thesiger as a writer much more clearly. This is travel for travel's sake and very much akin to a purist view which almost overshadows the sheer achievement and incredible adversity, the latter Thesiger takes in his stride. A wonderful opening into an Arabia already changing and changed by the west and the advent of oil.A book for those truly interested in the deserts, but expect Thesiger to dwell on the peoples more than landscapes. No prosaic passages here very functional and matter of fact! But no disappointment in this for me - a love of travel amongst bedu nomads makes perfect sense. Highly recommended.
—Fraser
I did not expect to enjoy this book. It's not the sort of thing I normally read, and I only picked it up because I thought it would help with some research I was doing. It did help me with my research, but it also turned out to be a really good book. Where I had thought turning each page would be a chore, I found myself reading entire chapters in a sitting. Thesiger's spare prose is perfectly suited to the stark landscape and stoic peoples he describes. Brutally honest, he ruthlessly catalogs the Bedu's negative traits along with their positive ones, and he is no more forgiving toward himself. Although he openly states his preference for the Bedu and their desert over his native England and fellow Englishmen, you will find no romanticized caricatures here. The Empty Quarter is brought to life through his eyes and his pen, becoming so much more than the featureless expanse of dunes you might expect.His account provides a window into a world that in now largely lost, a world that was seen by few Europeans when it existed. What remains of it is still seen by few outsiders, and is much clouded by preconceptions and stereotypes. Thesiger both shows us what was and allows us to better understand what is. A must-read for anyone who is interested in the Middle East or enjoys travelogues.
—Gwyn
I just returned from the Empty Quarter, the setting for ARABIAN SANDS, and truly feel that this book embodies the spirit of the region. A lot has changed since Thesiger's travels. The discovery of oil has forced the Bedu tribes from the land they had inhabited for centuries and they now occupy government-provided housing. While some argue modernization has allowed a better life for these peoples, Thesiger's experiences point to a solace the people found in self-sufficiency and tradition. While in the UAE, I asked if there were still tribes inhabiting the desert and was told that it was doubtful but perhaps in Saudi Arabia few still carried out a nomadic life. (I stayed in the desert of Abu Dhabi about 20 miles from the Saudi border.) My own experiences in the desert were nothing short of magical but I was enormously thankful to have ARABIAN SANDS as a revelatory historical reference. Without it, I fear I would have seen the Empty Quarter as a mirage instead of a place that is culturally and historically rich. I strongly recommend this book to any who want to time travel to a place absent of skyscrapers and automobiles, where camels were the only means of transport and where the people were bound by laws of honor, religion, and survival. Christian and Englishman, Wilfred Thesiger, was the perfect guide when navigating the nuances of this enchanting foreign land and illuminating the complex people who inhabit it.
—April Khaito
