Live Wilderness Adventure

Chapter 833: The Ancient Path

Egypt, which has a history of thousands of years, is bounded by the Sahara Desert, located in the north of Africa, and belongs to North Africa on the African continent.

Geopolitically, it also belongs to the most eastern part of the Middle East. Among the seven continents in the world, Africa is the second largest continent after Asia in both area and population.

Such a huge piece of land has become a forgotten place in international geopolitics.

Whenever people talk about the international situation, they focus on Europe, America, the Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East.

When mentioning Africa, the first impression is poverty, war, hunger, AIDS, Ebola

Historically, the vast majority of African countries have been colonized by European and American powers. In the 20th century, after independence, African countries have fallen into endless poverty and war.

Today, Africa is still the continent with the most backward economy and the most frequent wars among the seven continents in the world.

One of the reasons why Bi Fang never approached human cities was to avoid these disputes as much as possible. Once he got involved, no matter how powerful he was, it would be useless.

But no matter how inconspicuous, Egypt is also the existence of the advanced social organization form of the state that entered the country early in human society.

The emergence of a civilized state in Egypt was earlier than anywhere else in the world.

In 4000 BC, two independent kingdoms, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, were formed here, and the legendary Yellow Emperor did not appear until 1,000 years later.

In the desert, Bi Fang rode a camel on the ancient commercial road.

This is a strange desert, part of the Sahara, but very different.

In the desert here, one part is black and the other part is white, black and white are distinct, the black desert is like the surface of Mars, and the white desert is as white as snow.

It looks weird.

【What's going on, why is the desert here this color】

[It's black and white again, is the white one snow? 】

[What kind of dividing line is this! 】

The audience in the live broadcast room looked at the landform like a different planet and were dumbfounded.

It's amazing. This is the black and white desert in Egypt, which is different from the yellow desert anywhere in the world.

Bi Fang jumped off the camel, squatted on the ground, and grabbed a handful of black and white sand.

He is at the junction of black sand and white sand, the two are blended together, but the grains are distinct.

The black desert on the left is located in an ancient underwater volcanic zone, so it is covered by a layer of black volcanic material, presenting a black and yellow scene.

The black material erupted by the volcano is as thick as a stone and as fine as sand, thus forming the current black desert.

As for the White Desert, have you seen the boulder over there?

Bi Fang pointed to the white rock not far away.

The large and small white rocks all over the desert are very strange in shape. They can remind people of the images of many animals, as if they have come to a giant sculpture exhibition.

Here, you can see strange shapes of chalk formed by wind erosion over millions of years, some are shaped like camels, and some are shaped like lions.

This is the source of the White Desert, a metamorphic rock.

For thousands of years, under the violent storms of the Sahara Desert, the sand grains on the nearby dunes have eaten away these 'stone-gray' rocks for years, leaving only piles of white rocks and black rocks. Stone.

This kind of 'white stone' everywhere is not a real rock, but a metamorphic rock formed by the continuous accumulation of the remains of marine life tens of thousands of years ago.

This vast, dead desert beneath our feet was actually an ocean in prehistoric times, and has since been covered by forests.

Until 6,000 to 8,000 years ago, this vast depression west of the Nile River became a large grassland, and the ancients at that time could still move freely here.

Today, it's one of the driest places on Earth.

The white fine sand stretches to the horizon as far as the eye can see.

Regardless of any era, the desert is a hostile existence to the Egyptians.

In the cognition of the ancient Egyptians, there have always been various evil spirits in the depths of the Sahara. They stir up troubles in the desert and do all kinds of evil.

The current situation is similar. If there is no generous invitation, Egyptian guides and tour guides will never take the initiative to take tourists on an adventure trip in the western desert.

Don't look at the Bedouin who are mainly nomadic. They usually have a tough temperament and fear nothing, but once they enter the desert, they are still cautious. It makes people feel like a novice driver who has just got a driver's license and is on the road.

The locals actually have an inexplicable sense of fear about leaving the road and going into the wilderness.

【I am also afraid when I come】

[In such a big desert, no one can be seen, and anyone who comes here will have to panic]

[It feels the same, even if I know the direction is absolutely correct, I still feel guilty and afraid when walking in this kind of place]

[Hasn't Fang Shen ever been afraid? 】

I was afraid before.

Bi Fang admitted this without hesitation.

The implication is that I am not afraid now.

As a group animal, people naturally have a considerable degree of fear of being far away from the group, but many things, the more you do, the less afraid you are, and the more skills you have, the more confidence you have in your heart.

As someone said just now, in the vast desert, even if you are an expert in identifying directions, you are 100% sure that your direction is correct, but after walking for an hour, two hours, or even a day or two days, the result The surrounding environment has not changed a bit, no matter how determined you are, you will slowly begin to doubt yourself.”

But when you're not only an expert at locating directions, but also an expert at finding water, hunting, and surviving, the panic is greatly reduced.

After you have enough ability, coupled with rich experience, you will no longer feel flustered slowly.

[Understood, becoming a god, right?]

【Is Lao Fang bragging about himself】

【I'm getting more and more shameless, I like it】

It's a fact, okay?

Bi Fang scratched at his hair. He hadn't cut it properly for more than two months, and now his hair is a little long.

There are five oasis areas in the desert bordering Egypt, Chad and Libya for human survival, namely the Bahariya Oasis, Fira Fira Oasis, Dakara Oasis, Karaga Oasis and Siura Oasis.

Our route this time is to pass by the edge of the Western Ula Oasis, and then pass through the other four oasis areas from north to south to ensure sufficient supplies.

The task was only to cross the Sahara, and no specific route was given. For this reason, Bi Fang had to choose the safest way.

At the same time, the oasis is also a treasure in the desert, and I always want to take a look.

Whether ancient or modern, this area connected intermittently by oases has always been a key life link for human survival in desert areas.

Now the entire territory of Egypt runs from south to north, and the Nile River flows through the entire desert area into the Mediterranean Sea. As long as people want to, they can take a boat along the Nile River all the way to Cairo.

Thousands of years ago, the Nile River was not the only way to connect Upper and Lower Egypt. Hundreds of kilometers west of the Nile River, there was an ancient desert road parallel to the river.

On the ancient road, goods such as ivory, ebony, frankincense, rhinoceros horn, leopard skin, and even giraffe tail from Sudan and Chad were continuously transported to the Mediterranean coast through this ancient desert road, and then exported to European countries. .”

This ancient desert business road is the one under our feet. It is said that it takes about 40 days to walk down the whole journey.

The camera moves to the bottom of Bi Fang, but it is a pity that the time may be too long, and there are no traces of the road.

Only when the drone was lifted into the sky, some outlines could be vaguely seen, but it was not clear.

This road has been abandoned for more than a hundred years, and it is already remarkable that some traces can still be seen now.

In the 19th century, large caravans often used this ancient road to transport goods.

Wilkinson, an Egyptologist in Yangguo, once encountered a caravan escorting 600 African slaves here in January 1825. It is said that this caravan can cover 900 kilometers in 35 days. The desert ancient business roads on the left and right.”

It sounds very slow, only thirty kilometers a day, but that is a caravan, not a lone ranger like me, the speed must be slower.

The French naturalist Frédéric Cariod also mentioned in his works that in 1817, a caravan consisting of 16,000 people appeared on this desert trade route, of which more than 6,000 were slaves.

This scale is not a caravan at all, it is simply a veritable army.

If people at that time had to take this trade route across the desert, they would usually make a will before going and entrust their souls to Allah.

[I don't know what Allah is, but I know pearls]

[Pony Pearl, right?]

【Bold! This is what you can say! ? 】

[Allah, the name of the supreme, unique and worshipable master of the universe in the classic Quran. 】

[It is the only master worshiped by msl in the world. It is considered to be the master who created all things in the universe and nurtured the whole world. He sent many prophets to convey the truth to human beings in this world and conduct fair liquidation in future generations. His status is similar to that of God.]

[Say thank you Karl with me]

In the Agabat Valley, not far from the Black and White Desert, Bifang stopped Alpha and found a large piece of crystal stone that was in the process of being formed.

This is Crystal Mountain.

Egypt is a famous crystal producing area in the world, and Crystal Mountain is one of the crystal producing areas. Large pieces of natural crystals are exposed to the air and shine brightly in the sun.

Bi Fang picked up a few good-quality crystals on the ground and stuffed them into his backpack, also as decorations.

He also saw the underground caves, where crystals spread and grow like moss in the darkness, forming white and bright crystals in the rock formations, and there were also huge crystal pillars, exposed on the surface, like red corals in the sea.

After leaving Crystal Mountain, Bi Fang rode for several days and came to the first oasis.

The area is not large, the water area is completely a small pool, but there are not many plants around, even if there is only a little water, life is blooming tenaciously here.

What's more gratifying is that Bi Fang also found several cacti here!

Presumably it is caused by species invasion.

In today's globalized world, this phenomenon is not uncommon.

I believe everyone has heard the saying that when walking in the desert, you can eat cactus meat to quench your thirst.

A lot of cacti are indeed edible, but not all of them are. There are more than a thousand species of cacti, some of which are poisonous.

There are so many varieties, and most of them look almost the same. Even I can't know all of them. I need to be cautious, so I need to do some herbivorous tests.

There are two main ways to obtain food in the wild. One is to hunt wild animals, and the other is to collect wild plants.

To hunt wild animals, you must first know the habitat of the animals and master the life rules of the animals, and then use methods such as pressing, trapping, trapping cards, and shooting to hunt.

This can only be truly mastered after a long period of training and practice under the guidance of experts.

In comparison, collecting plants is much simpler.

Although the collection is simple, how to collect it correctly becomes much more difficult. This also requires a certain period of training under the guidance of experts to master this knowledge.

I introduce the simplest method to identify poisonous and non-toxic wild plants for use in emergency situations.

Usually, the collected plants are cut a small hole, put in a pinch of salt, and then carefully observed whether the original color is changed. Usually, the discolored plants are not edible.

Bi Fang cut off a piece of cactus meat and sprinkled a thin layer of salt on it.

Salt is actually very easy to obtain in the Sahara. Most of the oases are saltwater lakes. In addition, there are many ores that will precipitate crystallized salt. They cannot be eaten directly, but a little treatment will do.

Of course, this is the most urgent moment. If you don't eat it, you will die. You can use the method I just mentioned to identify it. If not, then follow me to do the test step by step.

There are six steps in the test, look, smell, touch, smear, chew, and eat.

Colours, old textures, bright colors, if you have those qualities, look elsewhere for your dinner.

Sniffing is smelling rancid? Almonds or pears? That's a warning sign in nature, as it indicates the presence of hydrocyanic acid. Avoid anything that smells like that, unless, of course, it's almonds or pears.

The cactus in front of us looks normal and passed the first two tests.

The next step is to do a skin contact test by crushing the part of the plant you want to eat and rubbing the sap on your sensitive skin, palms, wrists, or the crook of your arms, underarms.

Leave it on for a few hours and see if your body responds.

Bi Fang cut off a piece of cactus, smeared the cut on his arm and waited for a reaction.

If your skin becomes inflamed, think about what plants might be doing to your interior.

The test is a very long time, but we have enough time. During this period, Alpha has lost a lot of weight. I will stay here for a day and wait until tomorrow.

In the evening, Bi Fang started to apply it on my lips without any abnormality, also without any tingling or swelling.

If there is any emergency, rinse your mouth with water first.

Then Bi Fang cut off a small piece the size of a thumb, chewed it in his mouth, and then spit it out.

No adverse reactions.

Finally, a snack.

Wait four to six hours and see what happens.

Do not drink any water during this time as this may dilute the toxic effects of the plant and give you a false negative reaction.

Of course, don't eat any other food during this time.

If it's a team, let one person do it and the rest wait and see to be safe.

The whole process took more than half a day, which is why the method of spreading salt just now is necessary.

It's impossible for a person to spend hours trying to be safe while starving.

It was not until the moon rose that Bi Fang was sure that the cactus in front of him was edible.

Cut off most of it for today's dinner, and stopped alpha from getting close to the cactus.