The Emeri Project
The Emeri Highland, a Lost World on the Jebel Uweinat Top

The EMERI-I Expedition: April 2005


(Photo Paolo Carmignoto)

The south-western region of Jebel Uweinat (Gebel Auenat) were first explored in 1934 by Prof. Umberto Mònterin, a famed geologist and glaciologist (Gressoney La Trinité; 20-XII-1887, 4-I-1940), Professor at the Turin University. Mònterind did this exploration while leading an expedition promoted in Libya by the Reale Società Geografica Italiana (Royal Italian Geographical Society) to the Libyan Desert and Tibesti.

This elevated sector of the Uweinat Massif was known to Tebu inhabitants of Cufra as the Emeri Highland (this place-name likely originated from the word enneri, which means wadi in Teda).
After the Mònterin expedition, no European entered again the Emeri Highland apart from a quick sortie by W.B. Kennedy Shaw who, in 1940, during WWII, did a failed attempt to cget by surprise the Italian garrison of Ain Zueia crossing the Uweinat granite region from the Morth. However Shaw did not left any description of his feat, just a versy short mention.

During the 3td March to 28th April 2005, the eight members of our expedition EMERI-I, which careful planning requested a full year, climbed again the western slopes of Jebel Uweinat and succeed in visiting places never hiked by any European nor documented by somebody. It was not an easy endeavor. The hike was a challenge; Emeri is, in fact, 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 stay on the highland. The mean weight of the backpacks, including water, food and equipment was about 24 Kg for each partecipant.


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 to trace the optimal route to the defined targets. In the post-expedition appraisal we found the difference between the theoretical best route and our actual recorded track to be minimal. Some of us found hard to believe that such a good match was real.

At the end of our hike the axiom to be proven was definetly proven: it is still possible in the Third Millennium to enjoy the same euphoric emotions the early explorer of the region described in their traveling narrative. Actually it is enough to abandon the 4x4 car and walk (walk a lot)... to upgrade from the status of a simple tourist to the status of an explorer.

The expedition results of EMERI-I were the following:
  • twelve new rock art sites (two outstanding).
  • the re-location of a miniature lost oasis originally discovered by Major Ottavio Rolle and Prof. Umberto Mònterin in 1934 (Ain Duarmé, a spring visited just once by the Belgian botanist Léonard in 1969 and since then forgotten).
  • The discovery of a astonishing palaeo-lake in a remote and nearly inaccessible valley, we nicknamed in Teda language Karkur Gabor (Hidden Valley). It is a place encircled by gigantic granite spheroids.
The scientific results were published on a major international scientific magazine devoted to the Sahara prehistory (The Sahara Journal).

The expedition members of the EMERI-I Expedition were: Tiziana Tormena, Michele Soffiantini, Stefano Laberio Minozzi, Gian, Paolo, Francesco Romanzi, Alessandro Menardi Noguera.

EMERI-II. The Second Expedition. April 2006