Michael Asher (explorer) facts for kids
Michael Asher (born in 1953) is an English desert explorer, writer, historian, and educator. He is known as a leading expert on deserts and the people who live there. He has traveled and lived in the Sahara and the Arabian Desert. Michael Asher has written many non-fiction and fiction books based on his adventures. He has also presented several documentaries about his journeys.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. He studied English Language and Linguistics at the University of Leeds. As a young man, he served in the British military, including the Parachute Regiment and the Special Air Service (SAS). He later became a police officer. However, he decided to leave these paths to become a volunteer teacher in Sudan.
Michael Asher has spent much of his adult life in Africa and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Mariantonietta Peru, who is a photographer and also an expert in Arabic culture. They have a son and a daughter.
Amazing Desert Journeys
Starting in Sudan
In 1979, Michael Asher went to Sudan to teach English. During his first holiday, he bought a camel and traveled about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) across the desert. He joined a group of camel herders taking their animals north to Egypt along an old trade route called the Darb al-Arbaʿīn (Forty Days Road).
He later moved to a small town in Sudan where he lived in a mud hut. He kept his own camels and often went on solo journeys in the Darfur region, covering more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km). These experiences led to his first book, In Search of the Forty Days Road.
Living with Nomads
In 1982, Michael Asher lived with the Kababish nomads in western Sudan for almost three years. He wrote about their way of life and how they were affected by a terrible drought in his book, A Desert Dies.
During this time, he met Mariantonietta Peru. Together, they decided to make an incredible journey: a 4,500-mile (7,200 km) trek across the Sahara Desert on foot and camel-back. This trip became the subject of their book, Impossible Journey.
Crossing the Sahara
Starting in August 1986 from Chinguetti in Mauritania, Michael Asher and Mariantonietta Peru traveled with three camels through Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan. They finally reached the Nile River in Egypt in May 1987. This journey took 271 days and was the first recorded crossing of the Sahara from west to east by non-mechanical means. It was also one of the first major African explorations done by a man and a woman together.
In 1991, Asher crossed the Western Desert of Egypt by camel, traveling about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the Mediterranean coast to Aswan. He traveled for two months with only one companion, and for the first month, they saw no other people.
From 2002 to 2014, Michael Asher led camel treks for travelers in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan. He also led treks in Morocco.
In 2008, he returned to Darfur, Sudan, with a research team to study the Janjaweed horsemen who were involved in a civil war.
Investigating The Real Bravo Two Zero
In 2000, Michael Asher was asked to go to Iraq with a film crew. His mission was to investigate two popular books, Bravo Two Zero and The One That Got Away. These books were about an SAS patrol during the first Gulf War.
Asher followed the patrol's route in the Iraqi desert and spoke to people who had witnessed events. His findings suggested that parts of both books might not have been true. He also found evidence that showed a soldier named Sgt. Vince Phillips, who died during the mission, was not responsible for its failure, as had been claimed. Asher's book and documentary, both called The Real Bravo Two Zero, caused a lot of discussion.
Environmental Work and Education
Since 2010, Michael Asher has been involved in the deep ecology movement. This movement believes that nature has its own value and is not just there for humans to use. He wrote a column in a Kenyan newspaper about environmental issues, stressing that "the Earth is sacred" and that "nature not technology, is the true source of our wealth."
From 2014 to 2019, Asher taught English literature and creative writing at a school in Nairobi, Kenya. He also led a survival club, teaching students about living in harmony with nature. In his current work, he emphasizes the idea of 'interbeing'—that all things are connected—and the importance of living in harmony with nature, a belief he learned from nomadic societies.
Documentary Films
Michael Asher has presented and directed several documentaries:
- In Search of Lawrence (1997): He retraced the steps of T. E. Lawrence in the desert to test claims made in Lawrence's famous book.
- Death, Deceit and the Nile (2000): He recreated an 1856 expedition to find the source of the Nile River.
- The Real Bravo Two Zero (2002): This film investigated the true story of the SAS patrol in Iraq, based on his book.
- Survivors (2008): This film looked at the lives of people who survived the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi.
- Paradise is Burning (2008): Asher talked to survivors of another bombing in Kenya.
- Stalking Hitler's Generals (2012): Based on his book Get Rommel, this documentary is about British attempts to capture or assassinate German generals during World War II.
Published Books
Michael Asher has written many books, including ten novels and fourteen non-fiction works. His books have been published in many languages.
His non-fiction books include travel stories about his desert journeys and experiences with nomads. He has also written historical books like Get Rommel, about a British attempt to assassinate Erwin Rommel in 1941, and Sands of Death, about an expedition in the Sahara in 1881. He also wrote Khartoum, the Ultimate Imperial Adventure, which tells the story of the fall of Khartoum.
Asher has also written biographies of famous explorers: Thesiger - A Biography about Wilfred Thesiger, and Lawrence - The Uncrowned King of Arabia about T. E. Lawrence.
His most recent book, The Oasis of the Last Story - Tales from the Desert (2022), is a collection of stories set in the desert. It's a mix of fiction and his own experiences, telling the story of a former soldier who goes on a journey to find a legendary oasis and undergoes a spiritual change.
Novels
- The Eye of Ra (1999)
- Firebird (2000)
- Rare Earth (2002)
- Sandstorm (2003)
- The Last Commando (2009)
- The Flaming Sword (2010)
- Highroad to Hell (2012)
- Code of Combat. (2014)
- The Colour of Fire (2018)
Stories
- The Oasis of the Last Story: Tales from the Desert (2022)
Non-fiction
- In Search of the Forty Days Road: Adventures with the Nomads of the Desert (1984)
- A Desert Dies (1986)
- Impossible Journey – Two Against the Sahara (1988)
- Shoot to Kill: A Soldier's Journey Through Violence (1990)
- Thesiger – A Biography (1994)
- Sahara (with Kazuyoshi Nomachi) (1996)
- Phoenix Rising – The UAE Past, Present & Future (with Werner Forman) (1996)
- The Last of the Bedu: In Search of the Myth (1996)
- Lawrence: The Uncrowned King of Arabia (1998)
- The Real Bravo Two Zero: The Truth Behind Bravo Two Zero (2002)
- Get Rommel: The British Plot to Kill Hitler's Greatest General (2004)
- Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure (2005)
- Sands of Death: An Epic Tale of Massacre and Survival in the Sahara (2007)
- The Regiment: The Real Story of the SAS (2007)
Awards and Recognition
Michael Asher has received several awards for his work:
- 1994 – Ness Award from the Royal Geographical Society
- 1997 – Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
- 2016 – Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal from the Royal Society for Asian Affairs
