Scientific
& Ecological Survey Expeditions 2010
Established
in 2007, Australian Desert Expeditions is a Registered Environmental Organisation and
conducts scientific and ecological survey expeditions into remote regions of the Inland.
Walking alongside traditionally outfitted packcamels, ADE continues the historical spirit
and cultural heritage of scientific desert exploration of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Our
fully equipped, self sufficient mobile reconnaissance expeditions are explorations often
resulting in significant scientific discovery and lead to further important research
analysis.
Travelling
on foot, supported by packcamels, is ideal for learning about the desert flora and fauna
and all our expeditions include a bird survey.
Anyone
can join an expedition and fully participate in assisting the ecologists and scientists in
their various disciplines. This may include collecting and documenting botanical
specimens, assisting with marsupial trapping surveys or
anthropological/archaeological/palaeontological recovery, all whilst travelling in the
grand tradition of the early explorers and pioneering Afghan cameleers.
Even
in this day of 4WD travelling, the best way to see the deserts is to walk them.
With the demise of the stockman and his horse, and the Aboriginal leaving of the
Simpson and Western Deserts in the 1900s, very few people walk the remote desert anymore.
Consequently, the stories the desert holds have been missed over the last few decades. The
desert deserves to be approached gently,
so its mood is revealed. The way people have always approached these waterholes was
on foot, as we have done today. That reveals the country - the continuum of country.
Andrew Harper, ADE Founder - Slow Train to Kallakoopah, The
Weekend Australian, August 2007 |
In addition to the scientific benefits,
our journeys also encompass an experience that reconnects the trekker to the land and
leads to a greater appreciation and understanding of the desert. Our camel string is totally self-sufficient – there are neither
back-up vehicles nor wagons – which provides an authentic, back-to-basics and
comprehensive Australian 'bush experience'. Our journeys also provide all round
lessons in navigation, bush cooking and mapping & topographical data
collection.
Trekking with the amiable and charismatic camels offers an intimacy with the soul of the
country that is completely absent when travelling by vehicle and expedition members
discover that the pace of gentle nomadic life re-awakens their senses as they become more
attuned to the life, beauty, diversity and moods of the surrounding desert.
All our desert journeys are walking
treks -
they are not "camel riding safaris" - and your active participation is
essential.
Contributing
to the operation of your trek or expedition and working with the camels
is an enriching experience, and the comprehensive pre-departure
information will help to ensure that you are well prepared for life in the desert.
Duties would include assisting our
cameleers with the daily tasks, shepherding camels in the mornings & evenings whilst
they feed and, under the supervision of the cameleers, helping to saddle the camels and
load the equipment.
ADE
is a small part of a revolutionary tide in thinking about the bush, and all inland
Australia. The cameleering tradition has its place, as part of the Australian past, a
threatened heritage: but there is another, more pragmatic reason for outback camel travel
and this reason underlies ADE's march into empty country.
It is simply this: scientific expeditions and surveys mounted by vehicle or
helicopter move fast,
and miss the context of what they see and find. The knowledge they gather is point
by point and incomplete, whilst teams who walk on foot, with their equipment borne beside
them,
can reach deeper into country, and once there can proceed in slow, focused fashion,
alert to all it holds.
Nicolas Rothwell, Slow Train to
Kallakoopah, The Weekend Australian, August 2007 |
|
|
Rain in the desert!
There has been widespread and heavy rain in the western, northern and north-eastern
Simpson Desert since late February,
including flooding in and around Birdsville. The usually dry major rivers and creeks that
flow into the northern desert have all flooded to some degree, in addition to the Mulligan
River/Eyre Creek system in Queensland which is now flooding for the second consecutive
year.
The Diamantina River and Cooper Creek are also sending huge amounts of water towards Lake
Eyre.
Consequently, we have had to alter our 2010 schedule and abandon our proposed treks &
expeditions in the eastern Simpson and shift our operations to the north, taking full
advantage of these exceptional seasonal conditions. And exceptional they are.
The desert will flourish this winter which will make for ideal trekking conditions,
ensuring plentiful feed for our hard working camels
and providing us with perhaps the best trekking conditions that we are likely to see for
many years.
|
2010 - 2011 is the 150th
Anniversary of the Burke & Wills Expedition
ADE will be part of the 2011 Burke
& Wills Environmental Expedition
Australia's Muslim Cameleers
Pioneers of the Inland 1860s-1930s
Now on in Melbourne
Immigration
Museum, 400 Flinders Street, Daily, 10 AM - 5 PM
Explore the remarkable impact of Australia's Muslim cameleers in
transforming central Australia.
This exhibition reveals the remarkable contribution which Australia’s first
Muslim community, from Afghanistan and British India,
made to the exploration and settlement of Australia’s arid interior.Cameleers
assisted all major expeditions into Australia’s uncharted interior starting with the
Burke and Wills expedition in 1860 and have contributed significantly to Australia's
economic and cultural development.
These Muslim pioneers provided the
lifeblood for many inland settlements, isolated stations and mines,
and forged communication routes through remote Australia.
The Outback Camel
Company also conducts treks & expeditions in the Simpson Desert but without the
scientific research element.
Their journeys include the epic 28-day, Northern Simpson Desert Expedition
- not only the world's longest commercial camel expedition, but arguably the most
remote & challenging walking trek available in Australia.
Please visit www.camelexpeditions.com
for more details.
Site last updated on
April 7th 2010
© Australian Desert Expeditions Limited ACN 134 680 434 ABN 80 134 680 434
Top banner photograph
© Andrew Harper 2007
Lindsay Bookie Photo courtesy of Lincartan Tours
Ethabuka Photo courtesy of Bush Heritage Australia
|
