Aprile 2005

The south-western region of Jebel Uweinat (Gebel Auenat) were explored in 1935 by Prof. Umberto Mònterin, a famed geologist and glaciologist, born in Gressoney La Trinité, Professor of the Turin University, leading an expedition promoted in Libya by the Reale Società Geografica Italiana (Royal Italian Geographical Society). This elevated sector of the Uweinat Massif was known to Tebu inhabitants of Cufra as the Emeri Highland. After the Mònterin expedition no European entered again the Emeri Highland. During the 3td March to 28th April 2005, the eight members of an expedition, which careful planning requested one year, climbed again the western slopes of Jebel Uweinat and succeed in visiting places never hiked by European nor documented by nobody. It was not an easy endeavor. The place is not easy to hike; Emeri is completely waterless and cannot be reach by any kind of motorcar. Helicopters were of course out of question. About 12 litres of water were the minimum survival quantity necessary for the planned three days hike. The mean weight of the backpacks, including water, food and equipment was 24 Kg.
(The above picture is from Paolo)

We found our way in the labyrinth made of rocks and crosscutting gorges constituting the Emeri Highland thanks to the analysis of the satellites images, digital elevation models and terrain modeling. We used professional software to perform the spatial analysis and trace the best optimal route to our target. After the expedition, the difference between the theoretical best route and our actual track was minimal. Some member of the expedition found hard to believe such a good match.

At the end of our hike the axiom to be proven was finally proven: it is still possible in the third millennium to feel the same euphoric emotion we can attribute to early explorer. It is enough to abandon the 4x4 car and walk, walk a lot… The expedition results are the following: twelve new rock art sites (two outstanding, the other minor), the re-location of a miniature lost oasis originally discovered by Major Ottavio Rolle and Prof. Umberto Mònterin in 1934, the discovery of a astonishing palaeo-lake in a remote and nearly inaccessible valley, we named in Tebu language Karkur Gabor (Hidden Valley), a valley encircled by gigantic granite spheroids. The scientific results of our expedition have been published on a major international scientific magazine devoted to the Sahara prehistory (The Sahara Journal). Now we have in the hard disk of our PC about 8 Gigabyte of digital pictures we have to carefully study, analyze and catalogue.

The expedition members were: Tiziana Tormena, Michele Soffiantini, Stefano Laberio Minozzi, Gian, Paolo, Francesco Romanzi, Alessandro Menardi Noguera

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