View of Wilfred Thesiger's travelling ... Africa 2

View of Wilfred Thesiger's travelling ... Africa 2View of Wilfred Thesiger's travelling party trekking through Al Batin sands during their journey across the Empty Quarter (Rub' al Khali) from Al Dhafra sands to Liwa oasis. In the foreground a large clump of abal (calligonum comosum) grows in the sand. Members of Wilfred Thesiger's travelling party, tribesmen of the Bayt Imani lineage of Rashid Bedouin, ride across dune sands towards a salt flat (sabkha) in the far distance. Baggage camels follow

west of the Umm as Samim quicksands

tying up sails

Further back many one and two storey houses line the banks of the creek

and further behind on the left one man sits atop a far dune

Blood pools in the rocks beneath the donkey

These are square buildings with small windows and flat roofs

The door is set into a high gate topped with ramparts

In the distance a steep domed mountain rises in the background

Portrait of two men of the Bin Maaruf lineage of Sa'ar Bedouin sitting with a young boy at Manwakh well

Portrait of two young Samburu men with ornamented hair and ears

being looked over by several young men (including Amara bin Thuqub

and a number of camels wait behind him