The Most Beautiful Desert of All

Philippe Diolé is (apparently) more well known for his diving books than this desert book, but he manages to draw lots of parallels between the two. In fact he has written a couple of books on the Sahara but many diving books and several with Jacques Cousteau.

In this book he spends his time in the remote Sahara in Algeria and Libya. He undertakes two separate but continuous journeys, the first by camel from Fort Polignac (Algeria)through various wadi to Djanet, Tamrit and Rhat; then a relocation by air to Sebha (Libya) then various routes by military truck to Oubari (return); to Mourzouk and Wadi Mathendous (return). On the Algerian camel journey Diolé is accompanied by a guide and an interpreter; on the truck journey he is accompanied by three French Foreign Legion soldiers.

For me I did enjoy the travel aspects of this book, as well as the historical run downs, and his primary interest - rock paintings/carvings. There seemed a lot of uncertainty around the origins of these - almost as is the serious detail of history is missing, but the more exciting aspect of tracing them down and photographing them was the goal. Here I insert my usual complaint about lack of photographs (there are none) in a book which discusses photographs at some length. At least this one has an ok map showing the destinations!

There was a lot of whimsical description, and a lot of what I would loosely say is philosophical discussion. There was also lots of referencing of other French authors, which (mostly) left me a little lost. I can see where perhaps the author wanted to provide more than a travelogue with history, and wanted to connect a overarching philosophical tie in, but that is all a bit beyond my simple tastes.

Having moaned about that, the whole book runs to 185 pages, so it is fair to say there is a bit in there for everyone, and any disagreeable bits don't last too long!

3.5 stars, rounded down.