Past Expeditions
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June 2024 Expedition Upper Brandberg & the Mikberg, Namibia In June we spent sixteen days in Namibia, making an ascent of the Tsisab Gorge on the Brandberg, continuing the explorations of the Mikberg area, a quick visit o the Kunene, and some further searches for rock art on private farms. |
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March 2024 Expedition Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria A ten day private trip to the Central Tassili in search of some remote "lost" sites published decades ago, but not seen by anyone in recent memory. |
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January 2024 Expedition Ounianga & Ennedi, Chad A tree week expedition to the fabulous Ounianga lakes, then on to the Ennedi to re-visit the extraordinary engravings of Niola Doa plus a slelection of other rock art sites and natural wonders along the South-western edge of the plateau. |
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October 2023 Expedition Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria A two week camel supported day trek to the never before visited Ouan Mellen, Tissoukaï and Ouan Bender areas of the Tassili du Tamrit, followed by another nine days in the Central Tassili, visiting some very remote spectacular sites. |
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June 2023 Expedition Rock Art of Namibia Account of the fifteen day tour of the principal rock art sites and natural wonders of Namibia, immediately following our private trip. |
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May 2023 Expedition Upper Brandberg & the Mikberg, Namibia In June we spent five weeks in Namibia, first doing a trek up the Karoab Gorge, then continuing the explorations at the Mikberg and on private farms, followed by the classic two week rock art tour. This is the account of the first part of our trip we did with Uwe. |
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November 2022 Expedition Eastern Tibesti, Chad A return to the magnificent rock art sites of the Ouri Plain along the Eastern side of the Tibesti Mountains. This time we trialed the eastern route via Gouro, shaving off several days from the onward and return journeys, enabling the complete exploration of the plain all the way up to the Libyan border, and exploring several unsurveyed areas. |
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October 2022 Expedition Tassili n'Ajjer & Tadrart, Algeria After the long ten year wait we could return to the classic sites of the Tassili n'Ajjer plateau for a ten day trek, followed by another eight days to the southern part of the Algerian Tadrart. |
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June 2022 Expedition Upper Brandberg & the Mikberg, Namibia A tour of several remote rock art sites recorded by Ernst Rudolf Scherz on private farms, a four day trek up to the the Amis, Numas and Dom gorges in the Upper Brandberg, plus a reconnaissance of the Mikberg area sites. |
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March 2022 Expedition Sudan We had high hopes to return to Jebel Uweinat via Sudan, however on this trip just about everything that could go wrong did, Murphy was having a field day. We never reached Uweinat, we salvaged what we could invoking plan B and visiting Bir Nurayet and the principal Nile valley monuments. |
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November 2021 Expedition Ennedi, Chad After a very long two year absence from the Sahara due to Covid related travel restrictons, we coud finally return for a splendid tree week expedition to re-visit the extraordinary engravings of Niola Doa and a good measure of other rock art sites and the spectacular landscape along the South-western edge of the plateau. |
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June 2021 Expedition Rock Art of Namibia A tour of the most important rock art localities and natural wonders of Namibia, based on our June 2018 itinerary with some variations. After the tour we stayed another week to make the long-awaited four day trek to the Raiders 1 site in the Upper Brandberg. |
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February 2020 Expedition Ennedi, Chad After the planned Ouri Plain trip became impossible to organise, we invoked Plan B and made a thoroughly enjoyable round of the Ennedi, visiting Niola Doa and many other sites along the south western side of the plateau. |
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November 2019 Expedition Oued Djerat & Tadjelahine, Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria In the first part of our journey we made a long overdue two week trek along the full length of the Oued Djerat. In the second we returned for a ten day trek on the Tadjelahine Plateau (central Tassili), again at a very relaxed pace with plenty of time to explore previously unvisited sites and areas. |
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June 2019 Expedition Upper Brandberg & Erongo, Namibia A return to the Upper Brandberg the hard way (up the Ga'aseb and down the Orabes gorges), followed by another week of exploring Omandumba West and Ameib in the Erongo. |
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March 2019 Expedition Jebel Uweinat, Sudan Back to Jebel Uweinat after a two-year absence, all went well despite the chalenges faced in Sudan. We ascended the Northern plateau, one of the last remaining blank spots on the mountain, with some nice new finds. |
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February 2019 Expedition Somaliland & Bir Nurayet, Sudan A week long tour of the most important rock art sites of Somaliland, followed by an expedition to the engravings of Bir Nurayet in the remote Eastern Desert of Sudan. |
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November 2018 Expedition Tadrart & Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria A return to the Algerian Tadrart and the Central Tassili along the classic itinerary, enabling visits over a period of four weeks to a number of fine sites which were by-passed on previous expeditions. |
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June 2018 Expedition Rock Art of Namibia On this year's trip to Namibia we made a broad sweep of all the principal rock art sites of the north western part of the country, including the Spitzkoppe, Erongo, Brandberg and Twyfelfontein, finishing off with Etosha Park and Sossusvlei, two of the biggest natural spectacles of the country. |
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January 2018 Expedition Ennedi, Chad Following up on our first exploratory voyage to the Ennedi plateau in North Eastern Chad, on this expedition we focused of the wealth of rock art sites in the Fada region. We conducted a successful search for the elusive cover scene of Bailloud's book, and re visited several other superb sites not seen since their original discovery decades ago. |
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December 2017 Expedition Laas Geel, Somaliland Immediately after the Uweinat expedition with Magdi we made a quick exploratory trip to the magnificent rock art sites of Laas Geel in Somaliland before returning to Europe. Both the conditions and the sites themselves surpassed all expecations, we will definitely plan a longer return to see more of the country. |
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November 2017 Expedition Jebel Uweinat, Sudan Our third Jebel Uweinat expedition organised from Sudan, a very enjoyable, problem and hassle-free voyage. We made several treks to the upper areas of the mountain, with some unusual new rock art finds and natural observations along the way. |
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June 2017 Expedition Brandberg - Erongo, Namibia All our previous expeditions to Namibia have focused on Brandberg mountain, this year we also visited the Spitzkoppe and the hundreds of sites scattered about the Erongo mountains, finished off with a trek up the Naib Gorge at the Brandberg. |
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March 2017 Expedition Tadrart & Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria The Algerian Tadrart is one of the most beautiful desert landscapes on this Earth, not to mention the wealth of rock art sites. With the easing of travel restrictions in South Algeria we made a tour of the Tadrart, followed by another week of cherry picking some of the finest sites in the Central Tassili. |
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January 2017 Expedition Eastern Tibesti, Chad Our second expedition to the amazing rock art sites of the Ouri Plain along the Eastern side of the Tibesti Mountains. This time we managed to reach further North, visiting all principal sites of the Enneri Borou and Enneri Borboré, making a major new discovery in the latter. The length and difficulty of both the onward and return journeys made this one of the most difficult Sahara expeditions we ever made. |
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November 2016 Expedition Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria We made our very first Sahara voyage together 25 years ago. In November we returned to Djanet to spend three weeks in the Tassili n'Ajjer as a re-make of this first voyage, re-locating several superb remote sites in the central and Northern Tassili. |
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June 2016 Expedition Brandberg, Namibia A short but intense trip to the Brandberg to tick off a number of remaining blank spots, including the the lovely U20 site and the lower accumulation of sites in the Umuab Gorge, an ascent of Eros Gorge, plus some undocumented sites in Numas and Hungorob Gorges. |
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January 2016 Expedition Ennedi, Chad A thoroughly enjoyable and very successful exploratory voyage to the Ennedi plateau in North Eastern Chad, visiting the extraordinary engravings of Niola Doa, also taking in a good measure of the rock art sites and spectacular landscape along the South Western edge of the plateau. |
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November 2015 Expedition Jebel Uweinat, Sudan We completed a smooth hassle free expedition to Jebel Uweinat organised from Sudan, approaching Uweinat via Selima Oasis accross the South Libyan Desert. Things mostly went as planned, we spent a week in Karkur Talh and another couple of days at South Uweinat visiting the principal rock art areas, making several new discoveries. |
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June 2015 Expedition Brandberg, Namibia This year's Brandberg expedition had a different format, we used camper cars to drive around the mountain and to gain access to the lower and middle accumulation of sites in a number of valleys. While most of the places were relatively easy to access, we did manage to see some very remote and unique sites in the lower altitudes of the mountain. |
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January 2015 Expedition Eastern Tibesti, Chad In January 2015 we succeeded in reaching the immensely remote Ouri Plain along the Eastern side of the Tibesti Mountains. The plain is dotted with hundreds of rock art sites, among them some of the finest paintings in the entire Sahara, all placed in a surreal world of sandstone towers half submerged in golden sand. Being able to visit the region and the shelters of Karnasahi, Fofoda and others surely counts as the ultimate Sahara experience. |
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November 2014 Expedition Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria In November we made a two week expedition to the central part of the Tassili N'Ajjer, visiting the principal paintings near Iherir on the Tadjelahine plateau (Iheren, Tahilahi, Tikadouine) then trekking up the Wadi Djerat. We also had the opportunity to see some overlooked sites around Djanet and along the way, plus the Sabeiba Festival which coincided with he start of our trip. |
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July 2014 Expedition Upper Brandberg, Namibia In July we were back to the Brandberg to make a diagonal trek totaling 60 kilometres accross the upper plateau, startng in Circus Gorge, traversing to the Orabes Plateau via much of upper Numas and Hungorob, and descending via the Sesaub Gorge (Basswaldrinne), seeing many of the remotest Upper Brandberg paintings never visited on previous trips. |
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January 2014 Expedition Tibesti Mountains, Chad This expedition was 20 years in the making, ever since I have first set my eyes on photos of the mythical Tibesti Mountains deep in the centre of the Sahara. By the time we gained enough experience, the Tibesti rebellion was in full swing, and till recently the area was inaccessible to even the most intrepid travelers. Amazingly the tide has turned, presently the Tibesti is an island of calm in the rather turbulent surrounding desert. We had an amazing three weeks visiting all the important areas of this extremely remote area. |
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June 2013 Expedition (2) Upper Brandberg, Namibia Immediately after the helicopter supported trip, we returned to the Brandberg for a nine day trekking expedition. The focus of this trip were the Norther gorges of Karoab, Umuab and Nuwuarib, making our way down the Tsisab, visiting a number of magnificent and very remote sites, even by Brandberg standards. |
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June 2013 Expedition (1) Upper Brandberg, Namibia A fully helicopter supported expedition to see a good cross section of the principal sites on the mountain. We mostly visited sites seen on previous trips, but circumstances permitted a day of visiting remoter sites in the Circus Gorge. |
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March 2013 Expedition Jebel Uweinat from Sudan With the approaches to Uweinat blocked from Libya and Egypt, I have been eyeing the route accross the South Libyan Desert for some time. Finally this March the plans converted to action, we had a thoroughly pleasant and successful trip to Jebel Uweinat starting from Khartoum, using local logistics. |
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October 2012 Expedition Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria In october we returned to the Tassili N'Ajjer. While not all things went according to plan, in the end we had a splendid one week trek on the Tadjelahin Plateau of the central Tassili, visiting the amazingly beautiful sites of Iheren, Tahlahi and many others in the area. |
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June 2012 Expedition Upper Brandberg, Namibia Immediately after the helicopter supported trip of early June, we returned to the Brandberg for a nine day trekking expedition, continuing to visit areas not seen on previous treks to the mountain. We managed to see a number of principal and lesser sites of the southern part of the Upper Brandberg which were bypassed on previous trips. |
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May-June 2012 Expedition Upper Brandberg, Namibia This trip was organised at the instigation of friends and Uweinat veterans who wished to see the rock art sites of the Upper Brandberg, but lacked the necessary physical stamina for a trek. This time we have utilised a helicopter for the entire duration of our six day stay on the mountain, to re-supply and move us to the next campsites. |
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October 2011 Expedition Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria We have re-visited the Tassili 20 years after our first journey, it still is "the most beautiful desert of all". During an eight day trek on the plateau we visited (and photographed) all of the principal sites of the Tamrit-Sefar-Jabbaren areas. |
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June 2011 Expedition Upper Brandberg, Namibia We have returned to the Brandberg to continue where we left off last year, learning from our experiences. With more effective helicopter support, we managed to see most of the principal sites of the Western part of the Upper Brandberg. |
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November 2010 Expedition Western Uweinat from Libya We returned to Libya after a long absence to explore the remaining "white spots" at western Jebel Uweinat. We had an unexpectedly hassle free and absolutely superb trip, making long treks on the granite part of the mountain resulting in a number of important new rock art finds. |
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October 2010 Expedition The Gilf Kebir & the Great Sand Sea Something quite different for a change, this expedition focused on the WWII history of the Libyan Desert, retracing the Egyptian part of Almásy's Operation Salam route and visiting the numerous SDF and LRDG wrecks still littering the desert. |
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June 2010, Namibia The Upper Brandberg Our first expedition to the rock art sites of the Upper Brandberg, a granite massif in Namibia showing remarkable similarities to Uweinat. A very tough but exciting trip that was long in the making, to be repeated each year. |
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March 2010 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir A very pleasant and fruitful trip to Uweinat and the Gilf Kebir except for the weather. The week long windless heatwave at Uweinat, coupled with freezing mornings and a sandstorm later in the trip will be long remembered... |
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November 2009 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir Return to Uweinat after a year and a half's absence. Our objectives were to ascend the summit, and explore some remaining blank spots in the upper areas of the mountain, all of which were met with spectacular results. |
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February 2009 Expedition The Gilf Kebir A special trip organised with BC Archaeology Travel to visit the most important rock art sites of the Gilf Kebir. We did have some time for exploring, resulting in an interesting find in a tributary of Wadi Abd el Melik. |
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March 2008 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir During the trip we visited the most important rock art localities in the Gilf Kebir and Jebel Uweinat. Traces of an astonishing amount of recent rainfall were observed all accross the Gilf Kebir, an area where except for a few isolated patches no fresh vegatation was oserved over the past ten years. |
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October 2007 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir The expedition was organised primarily to explore unsurveyed parts of Jebel Uweinat. We did make some splendid rock art finds, however the highlight was to observe the aftermath of yet another summer rain, which left pools large enough to swim in all over the mountain. |
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March 2007 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir A special trip organised with members of ARARA (American Rock Art Research Association) to visit the most important rock art sites at Uweinat and the Gilf Kebir. For the first time, a video camera was used to record sites and the trip. |
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October 2006 Expedition Jebel Uweinat A private trip made with Liz & Jon Holmes to Uweinat, primarily to explore the unsurveyed 'blank spots'. A highlight of the trip was the re-discovery of Winkler's site 75 in Karkur Murr, which surpassed all expectations. |
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March 2006 Expedition Total solar eclipse, Libya The total solar eclipse of 29th March 2006, viewed from the centre of the great Libyan Sand Sea. |
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October 2005 Expedition Uweinat, Gilf Kebir & the Great Sand Sea We witnessed at Uweinat the amazing transformation bought about by the rains a few weeks before. After exploring Uweinat, we continued north via Wadi Sora, the Aqaba pass and Wadi Hamra to the Great Sand Sea, ending in Siwa. |
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June 2005 Namibia The odd-one out, as this family trip was not made to the Libyan Desert, however the similarities of the desert and the rock art sites are remarkable. This account is a brief overview, to see what may be expected on a forthcoming trip to the rock art sites of the upper Brandberg. |
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March 2005 Expedition Jebel Uweinat Instead of the cancelled Sudan trip, a two week trip was made principally to Jebel Uweinat, to continue exploration of the unknown parts. In the upper Wadi Wahesh a very rich group of paintings were found. |
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November 2004 Expedition Wadi Sora & Jebel Uweinat After a brief stay at Wadi Sora a full week was spent exploring Eastern and Southern Uweinat, resulting in a number of new rock art sites. |
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October 2004 Expedition Uweinat, Wadi Sora & the Great Sand Sea The classic itinerary visiting Uweinat, Kissu, Wadi Sora, all three "Zarzura" valleys in the Northern Gilf Kebir, then continuing north via the Libyan Desert Glass area to Siwa, crossing the Great Sand Sea. |
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March 2004 Expedition Uweinat, Wadi Sora & the Great Sand Sea Stayed for a week at Karkur Talh. Found three new sites at Jebel Kissu, explored the Hassanein Plateau finding a huge shelter with paintings. On the return we stopped at Wadi Sora, and crossed the Great Sand Sea to Siwa. |
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November 2003 Expedition Wadi Sora & Karkur Talh A special trip was organised for a small group to visit all major known rock art sites in the Wadi Sora & Karkur Talh areas. Some time was spent exploring unknown areas of the western Gilf Kebir & Uweinat, with exciting results. |
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October 2003 Expedition Jebel Arkenu & Uweinat A repeat of our 2001 November itinerary, exploration of Arkenu, Karkur Irdiss and Karkur Ibrahim. Several new rock art sites found at Western Uweinat. |
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February 2003 Expedition Great Sand Sea, Gilf Kebir & Uweinat Traversed the Great Sand Sea south from Siwa, explorations in the Silica Glass Area and along the western Gilf, new rock art sites near Wadi Sora and in Karkur Talh, two day trek to investigate the mysterious "White Blob" |
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October 2002 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir Dozens of new rock art sites discovered at Karkur Talh, ascent of Jebel Uweinat from the North, exploration of the western side of the "Unnamed Plateau", a spectacular new shelter with paintings in the Western Gilf |
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March 2002 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir Wadi Bakht, new discoveries at Karkur Talh, exploration of the main wadi of the "Unnamed Plateau", new rock art sites near Wadi Sora and in Wadi Abd el Melik |
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November 2001 Expedition Jebel Arkenu & Uweinat First trip to Uweinat from Libya, ascent of the mountain, new rock art sites, discovery of the SAAF Blenheims forced landing sites |
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March 2001 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir Ard al Akhdar, rediscovery of Winkler's site 81 at Karkur Talh, new rock art sites in Karkur Murr and near Wadi Sora, "Chianti Camp", Bagnold's Stone Circle |
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November 2000 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir Egyiptian officialdom surpassed worst expectations, but things turned out fine in the end. New sites at Karkur Talh, easy route discovered accross the Gap dunes |
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March 2000 Expedition Jebel Uweinat & the Gilf Kebir First trip by FJ Expeditions, Karkur Talh rock art sites, accross the Gap dunes, Wadi Hamra, walk accross plateau top to Wadi Abd el Melik, Silica Glass |
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November 1998 Expedition Jebel Arkenu & Uweinat Finally made it to Uweinat, exploration of Karkur Talh, Clayton's Craters, finding Kemal el Din monument, Wadi Sora, limping back with broken gearbox |
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November 1997 Expedition Regenfeld and Great Sand Sea High hopes dashed by Luxor terrorist attack. Permits cancelled, we made a short foray into the Great Sand Sea, to Rohlf's cairn at Regenfeld |
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1991 and 1993 Tassili N'Ajjer We made our first serious desert ventures to the Tassili N'Ajjer in November 1991 (our honeymoon), and October 1993 |
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June 1981 Sudan My very first solo trip at the age of 17. Glimpses of a one week trip to Khartoum and the ancient sites of Naqa, Musawaret el Sufra and Meroë in the Bayuda desert |
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October 1980 Kharga and Dakhla Oases The first close encounter with the Libyan Desert. With two university friends we made a five day trip to Kharga and Dakhla, a quite formidable trip at the time. |