Why Should We Bother About Desert Navigation At All?

Photo © Mohamed Mabrouk

Nice photo, isn't it?! Well, that's one good reason for you!
WARNING:  Driving like Khaled (foreground) and parking like Hany (background) has rules. Driving on sand dunes (or ghoroud as they're called in Egyptian Sahara) requires certain skills and knowledge of desert driving.

Is Navigation For Me?

Navigation is for everybody! Imagine yourself during a safari arriving at Farafra oasis, and borrowing the map of your safari leader/guide. Now you look on the map, and you find something like this:

 

You could be either with Navigation knowledge or without, here's what might happen and why:

Navigators	No Navigation Knowledge	Knowledge  Difference
Can use map to see elQass (=priest) Abu Sa3id plateau in the distance and routes to get to Ghard (=dunes) elNoss . That would start a short discussion with the Leader about the possibility of a monastery up there.	Qass what?	Cannot Read Map (positions and nature of maps names)
Can see direction to elQasr, and to the 'unnamed' sand dunes at south and ask how much time (for next safaris)	What are you pointing at? I don't see anything!!	Don't understand the nature of directions (bearings) and distances
Can ask about this little green palm symbol and the guide will explain that it is Ain Dalla and explain some exciting places there.	I don't understand. Is this Ain Dalla in this safari or not??	Don't know the route of his own safari nor can judge  possibilities of  seeing things on the side
Would ask if there are nice places on the map to walk to under the moonlight on their own. They'd say they like to have it easily recognizable and on straight route from the town for a couple of hours?	Oh, but you will surely get lost!!! Is it safe out there? I prefer to stick to camp fire.	cannot be left alone even for short Sahara distances

Knowledge of Navigation is the power of knowing what's happening. It's our choice to be the knowledgeable ones or not.

In fact, that was too basic Navigation knowledge! Just simple geography and map-literacy. The real Navigation begins when you buy the map and sit with your friends to plot a route of your choice. The route that expresses you and your preferences the most. Then you venture through the terrain safely on foot or in 4x4, and without impacting it, collect best of memories and impressions (maybe some info for friends) and then back safely.

What is Navigation?

Freedom: it's the knowledge you use to go any place you think you might like. If that is not freedom, then I don't know what it is.

Control: with a compass and a map, you could see beyond the horizons and give names to all summits and landmarks you see or will see in a while.

Safety and Respect: you know what to avoid that might compromise your safety (eg, quarries or quicksand) or trespass others' properties (eg, Bedouins villages privacy) or security zones.

How Navigators Look Like?

If you mean a leadership figure standing over a pedestal holding a map rolled to his side with a compass at his hand, and pointing up to see wind direction with the other hand and with a big turban like the days of old Navigators, then you're not very far from the truth, but still this is not how Navigators look like now.

If we take the turban out and the thumb down, almost everything else must be kept (the leadership, the knowledge and the tools) if you are to travel safely or enjoy traveling to the max. Navigators now would keep the map and the compass for sure but will have to hold a GPS as well. GPS is just your navigation calculator and shouldn't be the Navigator because you should always be in charge in case it betrays you.

GPS Craze

GPSs are getting more advanced by the day and are slowly taking over maps, compasses, astro-navigational instruments, and a bit over the experience of the Navigators too. But they're not really there yet! I guess it's only in today's science fiction will you find somebody describing a GPS that can fully replace a paper map. If you're a science-fiction fan, you'd know that using only a GPS to go somewhere and back safely is not as easy as defending the Galactic Empire.

No. Seriously! Imagine a friend promising to teach you how to drive a car. So, in few minutes she explains the dashboard, transmission and pedals and (with engine turned off) she'd ask you to try the pedal and steering wheel. If you remember your first time behind the wheel, you have to admit how fascinating it was... well, they turn and move and your potentials (however vague) are incredible. aren't they? That's how some show you a waypoint on a screen of GPS and tell you that's where you are and how to save it. But nothing about why we choose to take a zigzag route or how to calculate time and distances and how we come to find new ideas for trips! That's navigation knowledge you're missing in spite of all the cool value of the GPS in your hands.

Why a Compass When There's a GPS

Answer is clear and is similar to that of other questions like "Why a bike when there's a motorbike?" or "Why hiking when there's 4x4ing." Your 4x4 cannot go everywhere however powerful... not to mountains summits for sure and not to canyons. GPSs are subject to many limitations that might make it very dangerous to depend solely on it. Some people have died because of that!

Also, it doesn't yet have the benefit of the powerful combination of Compass and Maps. You cannot orient a map with GPS, you cannot triangulate with GPS, and you certainly cannot see on the smallish screen of a GPS the breadth of info a wide paper map provide.

Is Saharan Any Different From European Navigation?

Very different! There are sad stories of Western adventurers who are experienced walkers in the West and couldn't make it in the Sahara. Deserts are typically not as populated with villages as it is were most Westerners come from so it's not about the lack of water but about somebody to point me to where it's hidden (Oz's from down-under know that quite well).

In addition, desert geography is so different that a 'clear' landmark type with clear indication on the map is not clear at all for a map-reader not educated with Arabic or Berber definitions of the landforms.

Most of the Western navigation is based on navigating by terrain association. This technique has little or no use of the Compass and the result is a total underestimation and a false sense of security.

Saharan navigation requires sometimes heavy usage of navigation by dead reckoning that is used almost exclusively by sailors. Yep! it is as exciting too but somebody has to show you the way first.

How Does One Learn to Navigate?

It takes time and cool like-minded people to mingle with so that you can fit it in your busy schedule. The world and specifically the North African deserts is some of the best places of the world to use navigation in (apart from sailing the oceans in your own boat.) Joining the non-commercial SaharaSafaris' Forum is highly recommended—it has Navigators and hobbyists of every sort in relation to travel and adventures in Egypt and growing into the middle-east and the world. To start it off with the right skills, you might like to take the Introduction course also instead of struggling on your own at the beginning.

It doesn't matter how you start, but as long as you like to have those stops in a safari, climbing to a high place, open the map and compass and start giving names to everything you see and even far beyond the horizons, then you'll keep impressing others and yourself with how vast and beautiful is the world... and stay safe.