Ike Abonyi
13 August 2009
opinion
Lagos — For one week IKE ABONYI was on a tour of the North African nation of Western Sahara during which he took a tour of the desert and captures his experience.
Early this year an Egyptian, Hesham Nessim flipped through the Guinness World Book of Records and discovered to his anger that no Egyptian is mentioned in the book for any feat. He then threw a question to no one in particular as to why no Egyptian has registered a record in the book despite the age and history of Egypt.
Nessim said "when I was looking at the book, I found that there was no record made by Egyptians, so I decided to take on the challenge of getting a record in this book." On March 5, 2009, Nessim, a mechanical engineer turned businessman, did just that. Today he holds the record for the 'fastest Sand Sea crossing' after speeding across the Western Desert in just five hours and 33 minutes; a feat that made him the first Egyptian to become a holder of Guinness World Record title.
The link to this story is that I just returned from the continent's last colony the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) otherwise called the Western Sahara; where I had a feel of what desert is and in a proper position to appreciate why it was quick for the Egyptian to have his name entered in the Guinness World Book of Record.
A satellite image of the Sahara by NASA World Wind shows that Sahara is the greatest desert and is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometers (3,500,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel: a belt of semi-arid tropical savannah that comprises the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Sahara has an intermittent history that may go back as much as three million years some of the sand dunes can reach 180 meters (600 ft) in height. The name comes from the Arabic word for desert
For one week recently my journalistic expedition took me to this desert not to achieve the type of feat the Egyptian did nor necessarily on geographically adventure, but on political and international search for solution to the protracted problem of the region where Africa is still harbouring its last colony.
Everything about desert I learnt was in my primary and secondary school days. Sahara desert was always referred to as one of the most formidable. We were told of its dunes, the high temperature among others. We were also educated of the animals that can survive in the desert, strong ones like the carmel, donkey and sheep.
Before now I have heard of the adventures of Jibuno Newton whose desire to make history like the Egyptian has crossed the desert from northern part of the country. Except him, the much we hear of desert in Nigeria is from some political leaders from the far north who shout about desert encroachment and the threatening effect of desertification.
The diplomatic trip took us to the Southern part of Algeria where the refugee camp of the Saharawis has been in existence since 1976 when they began war of independence with their Arab neighbour-Morocco.
From the refuge camp where we witnessed one of the worst poor living conditions arising from lack of basic needs for the people, we also had the opportunity of visiting the desert where we drove for six hours without seeing any tree or anything that tried to indicate life except for such animals as carmel and donkeys.
Riding in a Toyota Landcrusier with double diesel tank designed deliberately for the terrain, we entered the adventure, which was stressful, tedious, but a rewarding experience. The sand dunes were intimidating so was stones in some areas.
Our guide Secretary General of Saharawi Journalists and Writers Union, Malainin Lakhal was handy to answer all questions. Our driver a retired soldier Beiba Khatri has radar on his head as he moved freely in the desert with no marked route track yet he knows direction and gets to his destination. When asked how he manages to get the direction he simply said he is guided by experience. 'I have been driving in the desert for over a decade even as a soldier during the war, he said. A times we used the movement of the sun to guide our way'
The intensity of the sun can hardly be imagined as the temperature this summer period is horrifying. If you put a newspaper inside water it dries off within three minutes. Standing in the desert you feel closer to the sky, looking at endless earth you marvel at the nature, especially if you are coming from forest regions of the world like Southern Nigeria.
For us, Julietta Aina an NTA diplomatic Correspondent, Daniel Ezekiel the Cameraman and yours sincerely as well as the immediate past Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof Nuhu Yaqub, it was an interesting experience. Midway in the trip we stopped in the tent to celebrate tea drinking, the Saharawi style. The Chinese produce most of teas taken in the region but it's the Saharawis that perform the ceremony.
I tried to liken the scenario on this to how Nigerians celebrate kola nut. The Yorubas produce it, the Igbos celebrate it, while the Hausas consumes it. For tea, Chinese produce, the Saharawis import celebrates and consumes it. At intervals in the desert we stopped to perform the rituals of tea drinking.
Another archaeological question that came up as we wandered in the desert was a discovery of some carvings on stones in the middle of the desert. This carving of domestic animals according to our guide raises fresh question of the status of the desert in the days past.
Could it be that sometime in the past human beings lived in the desert? Was it a desert then? Another poser for stony area of the desert we found was whether in long time past the desert was once covered by the sea, raising the issue of climate change which certainly did not start today. These are academic questions that only archaeologists could answer either now or in future.
The trip afforded me the opportunity to appreciate it when Nigerians residing in the far north of the country raised the issue of desertification. My experience of desert in some parts of Sokoto, Borno and Kano States where I have been, has not shown me much compared to what I saw in the North African nation of the Western Sahara.
It was one experience that I will forever cherish in my journalistic memoirs, a reporter in the Sahara desert. In my experience, I may not have entered the Guinness Book of Records like Nessim, the Egyptian, but certainly it has greatly enriched my horizon of the world's planet.
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