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Dubai-based explorer recalls 'hardest' UAE desert trek
Additionally, Calderan often found himself without his support team - which was travelling by vehicles which often became stuck or broke down - for up to 12 hours at a time, while at the same time braving harsh weather conditions.
- PUBLISHED: Tue 29 Mar 2016, 12:00 AM UPDATED: Fri 2 Aug 2024, 11:30 AM
Italian desert explorer and extreme athlete Max Calderan describes his 340-kilometre, 128-hour trek in the UAE's desert along the Tropic of Cancer between the Oman and Saudi borders as "absolutely the hardest thing" that he's ever accomplished.
By now, the Dubai resident is no stranger to seemingly impossible feats of endurance across deserts. He's already run for 90 hours - without stopping - across 437km of the Tropic of Cancer in Oman, and has run 250km, for 49 hours, coast-to-coast across Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
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The vast open desert along the Tropic of Cancer between the Oman and Saudi borders seems inviting, but it was 'absolutely the hardest thing' he has ever accomplished, said Max Calderan desert explorer who lived, walked, ran and slept in the desert for five days conquering the massive dunes of soft, difficult sand. At night he would make a hole in the sand and stay inside his blanket to create warmth.-Supplied photos
But none of his past exploits could have prepared him for the unforgiving landscape of the UAE's Empty Quarter.
"In terms of effort, in terms of the quality of sands, in terms of weather conditions, in terms of technical difficulties that I faced and had to manage, it was all totally unexpected," he said. "After the first day, I discovered I was totally destroyed ... my legs were totally empty of energy, totally unable to cover another kilometre."
"In any exploration I've done before, I know very well my limits, and (previously) I have been able to cover between 80 and 120 kilometres daily, in any kind of sand conditions," he added. "But on the Tropic of Cancer, I had a big life lesson. After the first 20 kilometres that were flat and very easy, I started to cover no more than one kilometre per hour."
The most challenging aspect of the trip, he said, was the massive dunes of soft, difficult sand.
"With each step, my foot sank into the sand some 10cm. I had to climb up and down (the dunes) and make small diversions," he noted. "The sand dunes are very tangled. You climb a dune and arrive at the end, but then you find that behind there is another, and another. With each step, you feel your heart is in your neck, and you are struggling to breathe, non-stop."
Additionally, Calderan often found himself without his support team - which was travelling by vehicles which often became stuck or broke down - for up to 12 hours at a time, while at the same time braving harsh weather conditions.
"At one point there was strong rain, and I felt like I was totally underwater. Then there started to be strong winds, so my body temperature went down," he said. "Every night I had to make a hole in the sand, and stayed inside my blanket to create warmth."
"I was a man, alone, in the desert, with prohibitive weather conditions and a quantity of water and food that had to be enough to cover at least 70 kilometers at a time," he added. "This was the most difficult part to manage."
At one point, Calderan said he began hallucinating.
"For one hour I was going up and down the dunes confidently. But then I saw my own footprint," he recalls. "I had been walking in a big circle for an hour. When you're that tired, the sands can seem like a man walking, or a giant lizard. You start to hear noises. It scares you. Maybe they're animals, maybe they're only your imagination. Even the dunes make noises. It could sound like a plane or car. You can't trust what you see. Strong winds sound like ghosts."
At the end of the voyage, Calderan says, he was beginning to give up hope before finally finding his way out of the seemingly endless sand.
"The last 20 kilometres could have been a tragedy," he said. "I wasn't able to find a way out of the last sand dunes and I was going crazy. I didn't have any more food. I didn't have any more water. I was cold, my feet hurt. I had no more energy. I wanted to be finished."
"I saw nothing but sand. I couldn't walk one more metre," Calderan added. "But I found a camel footprint going beyond the dunes, but they seemed to stop. But I kept going and found some camel farms. The last 500 metres I was running like a crazy man, and I started to kiss the earth."
When asked what lessons he derived from the experience, Calderon said people should be ready for anything - no matter what the circumstances. "Such an experience is a big life lesson. I planned every detail, and I was confident that everything was perfect," he said.
"We have to be ready, in each moment of our life, not just in the desert, to react immediately and change our plan in order to be successful and reach our target goal."
"It's like happily walking along the street in Jumeirah, and at a certain unexpected moment, someone starts beating you in the face, and you don't understand what's happening," he said. "It's the same feeling in the desert. In a bad situation, you shouldn't focus on what's happening. React immediately."
Looking to the future, Calderan says he'll likely have other adventures in a few months, but wants to take some time to recover fully from the Tropic of Cancer.
"I'm not here 100 per cent. A part of my soul is still in the desert, and it will remain there for several days," he said. "On this last trip, I swore it would be my last one. But now, I'd like to go back to the desert to search for my soul, and together we'll have another walk."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com
