Amid these "unfathomable distances" lie ancient Christian monasteries, oasis temples and thrillingly ... and Alexandria before heading into the desert in a 4x4 with a local guide.

In mid-December 1941, a group of British commandos gathered in the Libyan desert outside an enemy airfield ... wadis and wind-packed sand from an oasis deep in the Sahara. Their guide, navigator ...

Between Egypt and Italian Tripoli, just north of the great Libyan Desert, lies the tiny oasis-city of Jarabub, an excessively important water supply station for the trans-Libyan caravans.

ON the western horizon of the Libyan Desert, as viewed from the summit of the Great Pyramid of Ghizeh, a conical hill stands in solitary grandeur, far removed from the route of desert travellers.