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Part II of III: Hannah McKeand, from the desert to the ice to the sea
Jul 22, 2004 09: 03 EST
Today in Part II of III Hannah McKeand, who is about to set off on a series of adventures taking her from Afghanistan to Antarctica to an around the world race, talks to ExplorersWeb about previous trips to the Western Desert and her upcoming trip next month.
ExWeb: Let's talk about what you have coming up. What's Afghanistan all about? How did it come about, for how long over there, what are you doing, etc. . ?
Hannah: Well, as I say, the last four years I’ve been rattling around the Western Desert or Libyan Desert which is the same thing, it’s the eastern side of the Sahara; southern Egypt, eastern Libya and northern Sudan. It’s the second biggest wilderness on the planet; an uninhabited area roughly the size of India. In the very center of it all, on the border of the three countries are three mountains, Uweinat being the largest and Kissu and Arkenu her smaller sisters. Then just north of there is a great sandstone plateau (the size of Switzerland) called the Gilf Kebir. All these massifs are threaded with complex valley systems and jam-packed with prehistoric rock art.
The Hungarian who leads the expeditions, András Zboray, is attempting to find all the paintings and engravings in this vast area with a view to producing the definitive catalogue on the subject. The trouble is every time we go back we keep finding more! I am part of a team of foot soldiers who go out with him to cover more ground, it’s really exciting work, there is nothing like climbing a rocky mountainside to peer into a promising looking shelter, and to find, when you look up at its roof, paintings that haven’t been seen for 10,000 years.
It’s one hell of a kick I can tell you! We have lots of other silly fun too; back in 2002 we decided to be the first people to climb Uweinat from Egypt. Unfortunately there are no detailed maps of the area and we were relying on satellite imagery to navigate and got ourselves into all manner of hot water on our descent from the peak, who would have thought a 300m deep, sheer-sided canyon could be utterly invisible to a satellite!
The thing about any traveling of this nature, is that you soon develop a great network of like minded people and before you know it, they are tempting you off to get involved in other adventures. One of the most extraordinary people I have met on these rock art surveys is a grand old fellow called Raymond Bird who is 81 this year! He’s the one who has got me involved with the Afghanistan trip.
We are going with an ex-journalist called Matthew Leeming who wants to travel up the Wakan Corridor through the Hindu Kush to try and find the source of the River Oxus. No white people have been right up there since George N Curzon in 1896, so it’s quite an adventure. We’ll take off-road cars up to the last settlement, then hire horses and ride out from there. The local nomads are called the Waki, it’s a winning name isn’t it? You just know you’re going to have fun with people called the Waki don’t you!
ExWeb: Absolutely, can’t go wrong with the Waki! But are you worried about any security threats?
Hannah: Well of course it would be foolish not to take security seriously in a country as unstable as Afghanistan, but I’m not unduly worried. Matthew knows the country inside out and we are traveling to a very remote corner of the far north, well away from the cities and the trouble stricken south. It’s a calculated risk.
Tomorrow in Part III of III, Hannah and ExplorersWeb talk about Antarctica and the around the world sailing race she’s planning on competing in.
Hannah plans on leaving next month for Afghanistan, and then will go for the South Pole this fall, and will then finish up the trifecta by hopefully competing in an around the world sailing race.
Image of Hannah courtesy of Hannah McKeand.
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