Travel

Excerpt

How I Became a Desert Explorer

Ever since I was a kid growing up in Toronto, I wanted to see the desert. I'm an adult now, but I can still remember the first time I thought about taking a desert adventure. I had read a comic book in which Donald Duck and his nephews went to the Sahara, rode camels over sand dunes, and visited an oasis. I was so fascinated with this story that I read that comic over and over until it fell apart!

Later on, when I was a teenager, I saw a movie that made me want to go to the desert even more. The movie was Lawrence of Arabia, and I couldn't get enough of the scenes that were shot in the actual desert. I saw Lawrence of Arabia again and again, and it had the same effect on me as reading the comic book had years before, only stronger. I absolutely had to see a desert for myself. And so, several years later, I traveled to Africa to see the Sahara, the world's largest desert.

Some people who go to a place for the first time have a feeling that they've been there before. For me, that place is the Sahara. On my first trip there I felt like I belonged, almost like I had returned to my real home. I wanted to explore everything there, from the things that seemed strangely familiar to the things that seemed just plain strange.

Since my first trip there, I've explored the Sahara many more times. Going "home" all those times has changed my life and turned me into a desert expert. I've learned how to speak Arabic, lived with desert peoples, and organized many expeditions through the Sahara. I've discovered lots about life in the desert, but there will always be much more for me to learn -- that's why I'll keep going back as often as I can. On each trip, I get excited all over again!

Exploring the desert has been -- and is -- the best adventure of my life. I hope that as you take this trip with me you'll feel some of the excitement I've felt. And who knows? Perhaps you'll start to think about some great adventures you can take, too!

Lawrie Raskin