In this mechanised and industrial epoch, the camel does not seem to be an obvious choice of travelling companion when sophisticated cross-country vehicles exist for the toughest of terrains. Add to this the stockpile of derisory and mocking myths, truths and sayings about the camel and one is forced to ask the question: why use camels at all? Purely as a means of getting from A to B when time is the most important factor, the camel should not even be considered. As a means of transport for scientific groups who wish to carry out useful research in the field, the camel is limiting. It can be awkward and risky transporting delicate equipment and specimens. However, for the individual, small group and expedition wishing to see the desert as it should be seen, the camel is an unrivalled means of transport.

Go safely in the desert

From my own personal point of view, the primary reason must be that, unlike any motorised vehicle, camels allow you to integrate completely with the desert and the people within it - something it is impossible to do at 80 kmph enclosed in a 'tin can'. A vehicle in the desert can be like a prison cell, and the constant noise of the engine tends to blur all sense of the solitude, vastness and deafening quiet that is so intrinsic to the experience.

Thirdly, in practical terms, they cause far fewer problems where maintenance, breakdown and repairs are concerned. No bulky spares or expensive mechanical equipment are needed for repairs. Camels do not need a great deal of fuel and can exist adequately (given that they are not excessively burdened) for five to ten days without water. Camels go on and on and on and on until they die; and then one has the option of eating them, altogether far better tasting than a Michelin tyre.

Lastly, camels must be far more cost effective if you compare them directly with vehicles, although this depends on whether your intended expedition/journey already includes a motorised section. If you fly direct to your departure point, or as near as possible to it, you will incur none of the heavy costs related to transporting a vehicle, not to mention the cost of buying it. If the camel trek is to be an integral portion of a motorised journey, then the cost saving will not apply as, of course, hire fees for camels and guides will be additional.

In many ways, combining these two forms of travel is ideal and a very good way of highlighting my primary point in favour of transport by camel. If you do decide on this combination, make sure you schedule the camel journey for the very end of your expedition and that the return leg by vehicle is either minimal or purely functional for I can guarantee that after a period of ten days or more travelling slowly and gently through the desert by camel, your vehicle will take on the characteristics of a rocket ship and all sense of freedom, enquiry and interest will be dulled to the extreme. An overwhelming sense of disillusion and disinterest will prevail. Previously exciting sights, desert towns and Arab civilisation, will pall after such intense involvement with the desert, its people and its lifestyle.

First steps

For the individual or group organiser wanting to get off the beaten track by camel, the first problem is to find them and to gather every bit of information possible about who owns the camels. Are they for hire, for how much, what equipment/ stores/provisions are included (if any) and, lastly, what are the guides/owners capable of and are they willing to accompany you? It is not much good arriving at Tamanrasset, Timbouctou or Tindoug without knowing some, if not all, of the answers to these questions. Good pre-departure research is vital, but the problem is that 90 per cent of the information won't be found from any tourist office, embassy, library or travel agent. Particularly if you're considering a major journey exclusively by camel, you'll probably have to undertake a preliminary fact-finding recce to your proposed departure point to establish contacts among camel owners and guides. It may well be that camels and/or reliable guides do not exist in the area where you wish to carry out your expedition.

I would suggest, therefore, that you start first with a reliable source of information, such as the Royal Geographical Society, which has expedition reports and advice that can be used as a primary source of reference, including names and addresses to write to for up-to-date information about the area that interests you. Up-to-date information is, without doubt, the key to it all. Very often this can be gleaned from the commercial overland companies whose drivers are passing through your area of interest regularly and who may even have had personal experience of the journey you intend to make.

In all the best Red Indian stories, the guide is the all-knowing, all-seeing person in whom total faith is put. However, as various people have discovered to their cost, this is not always such a good idea. Many so-called guides know very little of the desert and its ways. How then to find someone who really does know the route/area, has a sense of desert lore and who preferably owns his best camel? I can only reiterate that the best way to do this is through personal recommendation.

Having found him, put your faith in him, let him choose your camels and make sure that your relationship remains as amicable as possible. You will be living together for many days in conditions that are familiar to him but alien to you, and you need his support. Arrogance does not fit into desert travel, especially from a nasrani. Mutual respect and a good rapport are essential.

Pack up your troubles

Once you've managed to establish all this and you're actually out there, what are the dos, don'ts and logistics of travel by camel? Most individuals and expeditions (scientifically orientated or not) will want, I imagine, to incorporate a camel trek within an existing vehicle-led expedition, so I am really talking only of short-range treks of around ten to 15 days' duration, and with a range of up to 400 km. If this is so, you will need relatively little equipment and stores, and it is essential that this is kept to a minimum. Remember that the more equipment you take, the more camels you will need, which will require more guides, which means more cost, more pasture and water, longer delays in loading, unloading, cooking and setting up camp and a longer wait in the morning while the camels are being rounded up after a night of pasturing.

Be prepared also for a very swift deterioration of equipment. In a vehicle you can at least keep possessions clean and safe to a degree, but packing kit onto a camel denies any form of protection, especially since it is not unknown for camels to stumble and fall or to roll you over suddenly and ignominiously if something is not to their liking, such as a slipped load or uncomfortable saddle. My advice is to pack all your belongings in a seaman's kit-bag that can be roped onto the camel's side easily, is pliable, hard-wearing and, because it is soft and not angular, doesn't threaten to rub a hole in the camel's side or backbone. I have seen a badly placed baggage saddle wear a hole the size of a man's fist into an animal's back.

If rectangular aluminium boxes containing cameras or other delicate equipment are being carried, make sure that they are well roped on the top of the camel and that there is sufficient padding underneath so as not to cause friction. Moreover, you'll always have to take your shoes off while riding because over a period of hours, let alone days, you could wear out the protective hair on the camel's neck and eventually cause open sores.

Water should be carried around in goat-skin guerbas and 20-litre round metal bidons which can, again, be roped up easily and hung either side of the baggage camel under protective covers. Take plenty of rope for tying on equipment, saddles etc., and keep one length of 15 metres intact for using at wells where there may be no facilities for hauling up water. Don't take any sophisticated tents either; they will probably be ruined within days and anyway are just not necessary.

I have always used a piece of cotton cloth approximately six metres square, which, with two poles for support front and rear and with sand or boulders at the sides and corner, makes a very good overnight shelter for half a dozen people. Night in the desert can be extremely cold, particularly in the winter, but the makeshift 'tent' has a more important role during the day when it provides shelter for the essential two-hour lunch stop and rest.

The day's schedule

Your daily itinerary and schedule should be geared to the practical implications of travelling by camel. That is to say that each night's stop will, where possible, be in an area where pasture is to be found for the camels to graze. Although one can take along grain and dried dates for camels to eat, normal grazing is also vital. The camels are unloaded and hobbled (two front legs are tied closely together), but you will find they can wander as much as three or four kilometres overnight and there is only one way to fetch them: on foot. Binoculars are extremely useful as spotting camels over such a distance can be a nightmare. They may be hidden behind dunes and not come into view for some time.

Other useful equipment includes goggles for protection in sandstorms, prescription sunglasses and, of course, sun cream. Above all, take comfortable and hard- wearing footwear, for it is almost certain that you will walk at least half the way once you have become fully acclimatised. I would suggest that you take Spanish felt boots or something similar, which are cheap, very light, give ankle support over uneven terrain and are durable and very comfortable.

The one disadvantage of boots by day is that your feet will get very hot, but it's a far better choice than battered, blistered and lacerated feet when one has to keep up with the camel's steady 6.5 kmph. Nomads wear sandals, but if you take a close look at a nomad's foot you will see that it is not dissimilar to the sandal itself, i.e. as hard and tough as leather. Yours resembles a baby's bottom by comparison, so it is essential that you get some heavy walking practice in beforehand with the boots/shoes/sandals you intend to wear. If your journey is likely to be a long one, then you could possibly try sandals, as there will be time for the inevitable wearing-in process with blisters, as well as stubbed toes and feet spiked by the lethal acacia thorn.

For clothing, I personally wear a local, free-flowing robe such as the gandoura, local pantaloons and cheche, a three-metre length of cotton cloth, which can be tied round the head and/or face and neck for protection against the sun. You can also use it as a rope, fly whisk and face protector in sandstorms. In the bitterly cold nights and early mornings of winter desert travel, go to bed with it wrapped around your neck, face and head to keep warm.

If local clothing embarrasses and inhibits you, stick to loose cotton shirts and trousers. Forget your tight jeans and bring loose-fitting cotton underwear. Anything nylon and tight fitting next to the skin will result in chafing and sores. Do, however, also take some warm clothing and blankets, including socks and jumpers. As soon as the sun sets in the desert, the temperature drops dramatically. Catching cold in the desert is unbearable. Colds are extremely common and spread like wildfire. Take a good down sleeping bag and a groundsheet.

Your sleeping bag and blankets can also serve as padding for certain types of camel saddle. In the Western Sahara you will find the Mauritanian butterfly variety, which envelops you on four sides. You're liable to slide back and forth uncomfortably and get blisters unless you pad the saddle. The Tuareg saddle is commonly used in the Algerian Sahara. This is a more traditional saddle, with a fierce-looking forward pommel that threatens man's very manhood should you be thrown forward against it. In Saudi Arabia, female camels are ridden, and seating positions are taken up behind the dromedary's single hump rather than on or forward of it.

Culture shock

Never travel alone in the desert, without even a guide. The ideal group size would be seven group members, one group leader, three guides, 11 riding camels and three baggage camels. The individual traveller should take at least one guide with him and three or four camels.

Be prepared for a mind-blowing sequence of mental experiences, especially if you are not accustomed to the alien environment, company and pace, which can lead to introspection, uncertainty and even paranoia. Travel by camel with nomad guides is the reversal of our normal lifestyle. Therefore it is as important to be mentally prepared for this culture shock as it is to be physically prepared. Make no mistake, travel by camel is hard, physically uncompromising and mentally torturing at times. But a meharee satisfactorily accomplished will alter your concept of life and its overall values, and the desert's hold over you will never loosen.