Desert experts are a legal requirement for any foreign traveller wishing to
visit the Sahara. Regardless of whether you are an experienced desert traveller
or have never visited the desert before, you can get the best out of your experience
in the company of a local desert guide. No matter how much you know, the Sahara
is massive and you can easily get lost or stuck amidst the sand seas.
Libyan law states that all foreign visitors must be accompanied by a "desert
expert" during their travel in the desert. The law also requires two desert
vehicles (4x4) accompany the group: one for passengers, and the other for supplies
and emergency.
If you are thinking of planning an adventure across the Sahara for yourself
or for your group, we can arrange for everything, from Libyan visa on arrival
to desert guides. We can also provide air-conditioned Toyota 4x4s with driver-expert
for travellers who have no cars.
A desert expert can also tell you some stories and tales associated with some
of the sites you will visit, show you the location of water wells, as well as
assist you in communicating with the locals, whom you might meet in your travel
across the Sahara. His knowledge of the local wildlife will enable you to learn
more about the local wildlife, like how to avoid camping in sites rich in mosquitoes,
scorpions or snakes.
The guide will save you time finding short cuts linking the endless sand dunes,
rock formations and valleys, as well as help you discover new places. He also
can show you some of the Sahara's hidden treasures that are known only to locals,
including some rock art sites which have never been catalogued before. In fact
each guide or expert has his own hidden places that other guides do not know.
A desert expert preparing a Libyan meal and tea the traditional way, on wood
fire.
