Lost... in the Desert of Dread
Page 5
You’re cold and wet, so you dry yourself as best you can with your blanket. Taking care not to fall into the quicksand again, you get water from the well. Quicksand isn’t the swamp of deadly peril you’d imagined (see the information here).
Clouds are racing across the sky, dimming the light of the moon. The wind has started to pick up.
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You shelter behind a large rock, your scarf over your face to protect your eyes, nose and mouth. Sand whirls into the air in a choking cloud as the wind howls around you. All you can do is sit and wait with your eyes closed. Thankfully, it soon begins to die down. After half an hour, the storm has blown over. You get up and carry on walking, returning to flatter ground.
Suddenly you hear a loud barking sound – and then a shriek. A rain of loose stones descends from high rocks above you. Your heart pounding, you look up into the rocky hillside.
The moonlight reveals several big monkeys. Altogether you count twenty of them, and there might be more hiding in the rocks. A few of them are walking purposefully towards you. They have large, long, dog-like snouts. One of the bigger ones opens its mouth to reveal huge canine teeth. Maybe it’s warning you off? Then again, they’re only monkeys – how dangerous can they be?
If you decide to keep going past the baboons click here.
If you decide to back off and go a different way, avoiding them, click here.
The rain gets heavier quickly, drenching you. Soon it’s a torrential downpour. It’s difficult to see where you’re going in the driving rain with the clouds hiding the moon, so you shelter by some rocks, amazed that you could be this cold and wet in the Sahara desert.
After a while, the rain stops. The sky clears and you can now see where you’re going. The rocks drip, and so do you. You pick up your pace to keep warm. As you hurry along, you look down to the wadi and see that it’s completely flooded – it’s just as well you didn’t take that route.
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You’re glad to have removed that horrible creature. There’s a small spot where it had buried into your skin, and you wash it with some of your water, just to be on the safe side.
As you walk on you keep your eyes open for a new source of water to replenish your supplies.
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As you pass closer to the baboon troop they call to one another (or maybe to you), making loud, scary-sounding noises – shrieks, screams and barks. A few of them run towards you, then sit staring at you.
You’re becoming more and more nervous. You pick up a large rock and chuck it at one of the baboons – that should scare them off.
It doesn’t. Instead, the baboons return fire with rocks of their own, several of which hit you. You realise, too late, that the best thing to do around potentially dangerous wild animals is to remain calm and back off. Unfortunately, one of the largest male baboons attacks you. There are baby baboons about and he sees you as a threat to the troop, particularly since you aimed that rock at one of them.
The end.
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Click here to find out more about baboons.
Baboons
• There are five species of baboon, all native to Africa and Arabia. They are some of the largest monkeys in the world, with the biggest males up to 37 kilograms, and up to about a metre tall.
• Baboons will eat almost anything: fruit, grass, seeds and roots, but also meat – rodents and birds, and even the young of large mammals.
• Baboons form large groups called troops – there might be hundreds in a very large one.
• They communicate with one another using a variety of different calls with different meanings.
• Baboons can be aggressive and have been known to hurt human beings – but you were very unlucky to be killed.
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It’s not dark yet, but the sun is beginning to sink and the temperature has dropped, so you decide to get up and get moving.
You could take higher ground, up some quite steep rocks, to get a good view of your surroundings. Or you could carry on along the stone covered, flat ground.
If you decide to take the higher ground, click here.
If you decide to walk along the flatter ground, click here.
As you get closer, you can see that the creatures are definitely ostriches. There are ten of them, you think. They’re probably only about a hundred metres or so away from you.
You are pretty sure that ostriches are never far from water. Should you approach them and find their water source? Or do you worry that the ostriches could be dangerous?
If you decide to get closer to the ostriches, click here.
If you decide to find water somewhere else, click here.
You walk towards the shimmering water, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer. After an hour or so of walking, you’re so hot that your water supplies are dangerously low. You hope you get to the sparkling lake soon.
Unfortunately, you don’t, because there’s no water there at all – it’s an effect of the hot sun on the desert sand. After a while, you’re out of water and can’t find any means of finding more.
The end.
Click here to return to the beginning and try again.
Click here to find out more about mirages.
Mirages
• Sometimes the heat of the desert will produce a layer of cooler air lying on top of a much hotter layer (or the other way around). Sunlight is refracted (bent) differently, resulting in an optical illusion: two images appear. An area of sky might be repeated below it on the desert sand, resembling a lake.
• A patch of sky repeated on the desert floor is an ‘inferior mirage’, because it’s underneath the true image. Some mirages are ‘superior’, where the second image appears above the true one – so you might see a camel in mid-air above a camel on the ground.
• Mirages aren’t hallucinations brought on by extreme thirst, as they’re sometimes portrayed. They are optical illusions and can be captured on camera.
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You set off after the camels in the breaking dawn – but they’re too quick for you. Before long they are too far away for you to bother chasing them any more.
It’s getting light – soon it will be hot. Should you find somewhere to rest for the day, or carry on – at least for a while – and hope that you find rescue soon?
If you decide to rest, click here.
If you decide to keep going, click here.
Click here to find out more about camels.
Camels
• A Bactrian (or Asian) camel has two humps, while a dromedary (or Arabian camel) has one. The humps don’t store water, they contain fat. By keeping most of their fat in one place, camels can keep cooler. If you see a camel with a very floppy hump, it’s probably a hungry camel.
• Camels spit when they’re angry. They have four separate chambers to their stomachs and can regurgitate undigested food. They often spit it at whatever is bothering them.
• Camels are specially adapted to desert conditions:
» They have extra long, curly eyelashes to keep sand out, and an extra eyelid to wipe it away.
» They don’t pant and hardly sweat; the moisture they breathe out is recycled because it trickles down a groove below their nostril and back into their mouth. They can also close their nostrils between breaths to keep out sand.
» They have large soft pads on their feet that are specially adapted for travelling on sand.
» They hardly lose any water in their poo. When it’s fresh, it’s already dry enough to burn on a fire (and people do use camel dung as fuel).
• All these adaptations mean that a camel can travel 160 kilometres in the desert without water. When it does find water to drink, a camel might drink 135 litres of water in less than 15 minutes.
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A cascade of pebbles skitters down the rock
s in front of you. You look up: there’s a group of seven or eight sheep or goats up there. They have big, curled horns, manes and hairy legs. They are staring at you in the moonlight. Although they’re quite big animals, each of them looks as though it’s precariously balanced on the side of the cliff.
You suppose that these animals must have some access to water and it clearly looks as though they live on this mountain. If you climbed up after them, maybe you’d find pools of water among the higher rocks? If so, this could be a good place to make a camp and wait to be rescued.
If you decide to climb up the mountain after the animals, click here.
If you decide to keep walking along the lower slopes, ignoring the sheep, click here.
It’s already really hot now, and you realise that it’s going to get hotter as the sun climbs higher in the sky. In the distance, to the east, shimmers a wide stretch of blue. Could it be water sparkling in the sun? Maybe it’s an oasis?
If you decide to go and investigate, click here.
If you decide to keep going the way you’re heading, click here.
You lay your blanket down in a spot that will be shaded when the sun comes up, and sit down to take a drink. You reach for your backpack and just as you’re about to put your hand on the fastener, the hideous looking spider creature scuttles across it! You jerk your hand back and lurch away from it, letting out a little scream.
Shivering with revulsion, you decide that there must be a number of these creatures here, and those jaws could probably give you a very nasty bite, whether they’re venomous or not. You decide to make your bed for the day somewhere else.
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Click here to find out more about solpugids.
Solpugids
• Although these creatures are sometimes called camel spiders, sun spiders or wind spiders, they’re not true spiders at all. They’re actually solpugids, which are arachnids, like spiders and scorpions, but they’re not quite the same as either creature.
• They have a huge head and jaws – in fact they have the biggest jaws in relation to their size of any creature on Earth.
• There are lots of myths came about solpugids, probably because they are so horrible to look at. Some of these myths are that they chase people and can run at incredible speeds (they do run very fast, up to 16 kilometres per hour, but not faster than you!); they eat people (and camels) alive while they’re asleep; they have extremely powerful venom. Thankfully, none of them is true, and in fact they’re not venomous.
• Camel spiders are about 15 centimetres long (though there are rumours that they’re much bigger).
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You start digging at the outside bend of the dry stream bed. The ground is hard and you start to sweat – you’re very glad that it’s not too hot yet, though it’s getting hotter all the time as the sun climbs higher.
You haven’t dug very deep when your spade makes a squelching noise. Thank goodness! You dig deeper and the hole fills with water. You rest in the shade of a boulder and boil the water (just to be on the safe side), then fill your bottles.
It won’t be long before it’s too hot to continue walking.
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You’re getting very hot and decide to stop and rest for the day. There’s some high ground to one side of you, which you’ve been following for a while, where there are plenty of big rocks to offer shade. You make yourself comfortable and wait out the rest of the hot day, wondering if you’re ever going to get out of the desert alive.
At long last, the sun starts to sink. You gather up your blanket and belongings and start walking. The rocks where you’ve been sheltering slope down to ground level just ahead of you. On the other side of them, you notice a flash of green. It looks as though there are some trees on the other side of the rocks – and what look like buildings, too. Maybe you’ve been waiting the whole day only an hour’s walk from an oasis!
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You carefully back off, glancing up every now and again at the monkeys, mindful not to make eye contact in case they see it as a threat. One of the males comes further towards you, then sits on a rock, staring.
You were right to be wary of the monkeys – they are baboons, which can sometimes be dangerous to people.
When you’re 50 metres or so away from them, you start to relax.
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You need some water, but, since there’s no obvious water source around, you’ll need to dig. Now’s the time to do it, before it gets really hot – if you leave it till later, you might end up becoming dehydrated before you’ve found enough water.
You can see some greenery in the distance – it could be some sort of tree. You can also make out a dry stream bed in the opposite direction. Where should you choose to dig?
If you decide to dig at the tree, click here.
If you decide to dig at the stream, click here.
The sheep – or goats, it’s difficult to tell – are facing your way, munching the scraggly grass and leaves that grow on the mountainside. It’s going to be a bit tricky, but the moon is bright, and you’re confident of your climbing abilities.
You clamber up the rocks to a small ledge. As you straighten up, the animals above you suddenly turn and run off up the mountain, skittering across the rocks so fast you can hardly tell which way they went. Unfortunately, they’ve dislodged several large rocks, which bounce down the mountainside, knocking you off your feet and to your death.
The end.
Click here to return to the beginning and try again.
Click here to find out more about barbary sheep.
Barbary Sheep
• Barbary sheep are sandy coloured, with a mane and hairy legs. They weigh up to 145 kilograms, and measure up to about one metre tall.
• They live in mountainous areas, and are extremely agile at moving about on steep rocks – they can jump up to two metres high from a standing start. In their mountain environment, they’re safe from predators.
• Barbary sheep are mostly crepuscular, which means they are active at dawn and dusk. They do this to avoid the heat of the day.
• They get all their moisture from the plants they eat, and don’t need to drink at all. But if there’s water available they’ll drink and wallow in it.
• Barbary sheep aren’t aggressive, and run away at the first sign of danger.
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You’re pretty sure that following those camels would have been pointless – after all, they’re much better equipped for moving in the desert than you are, and much faster too.
The sky is lightening. As you walk, the sun comes up. The desert looks beautiful bathed in the dawn light. But it can be deadly too. You wonder how long it will be before you find an oasis and people to help you. Or whether you ever will.
You decide to look on the bright side: you’re feeling OK, and you have plenty of water. So you decide to keep walking, at least for a while, until the heat becomes too intense.
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The light’s fading, and you know it won’t be long until it’s gone completely. You hope for another bright, moonlit night.
From the corner of your eye, you spot a movement. Far in the distance, just emerging from behind a low hill, there’s a camel. Squinting at it, you think you can make out the outline of a person riding it. Behind the camel there’s another one – and another one following that. They’re walking in a line, one behind the other. It must be a camel train!
You call out, as loudly as you can. But even to you, your voice sounds feeble. You know it won’t reach the camel riders. Still, you hope, maybe they’re not far away from their destination – perhaps they’re late getting back.
You hurry onwards, following the direction of the camels.
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You haven’t gone far when you spot a different kind of creature in the distance: camels.
They’re a few hundred metres or so away, loping along t
he barren ground. Sadly, there aren’t any people with them.
Still, maybe you should follow them – you guess they’ll eventually lead you to water?
If you decide to follow the camels, click here.
If you decide not to, click here.
As you get closer, you see that it’s a single tree, four or five metres high, standing alone in parched-looking soil. It has small, green leaves, and it’s covered in long, vicious looking spines. But you’re not interested in eating its leaves or climbing it – just in the water it must be drinking.
In fact the tree is an acacia tree, also known as a thorn tree. Its sharp thorns protect it from grazing animals. An acacia’s roots can extend many metres underground in order to find water to sustain it.
You start to dig in the hard, parched earth. With every spade of soil you hope to see water trickling into the hole, but the earth is dry.
You’re sweating a lot, and you’ve drunk the last of your water. You’ve no choice but to carry on digging. Soon you’re completely exhausted and dehydrated. With no other source of water and no energy to carry on digging you soon die.