There can be few parts of the world where one is so much up against cold hard facts as in the desert.
-Mysteries of the Libyan Desert, W.J. Harding King, 1925
We Khawajas came prepared for cold nights but hadn’t figured on the cold mornings before the sun warmed the north wind. KhairAllah wore a woolen shawl and the drovers wrapped themselves in cotton, but what worked best was the fast pace set by his whip urging us to walk double time the first miles after breakfast.