An interview with Jules Lewis
March celebrates International Women’s Day and National Women’s History Month, so what better than to showcase women of courage, and present the expedition organized by Jules Lewis, Founder of Mountain High, for a group of intrepid women. Here talks to Tempo about the journey, and she shares her thoughts…
“I have been running expeditions, retreats and personal leadership programmes since 2003. In January of this year I teamed up with Mark Evans of Outward Bound Oman and took a diverse team of women to follow an ancient trading route across 115.5km of sand.
“Some of the most celebrated women explorers made their names in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East: Freya Stark, Gertrude Bell, Rosita Forbes, Hester Stanhope, Isabelle Eberhardt, Isabella Bird… the list goes on. The eight women in our group wanted to make history as the first and only team of women from the United Arab Emirates and Asia to cross the Sharqiya Sands in Oman.
“Our group trecked by foot, guided by a GPS, and the desert wisdom of Saleem, our local Omani Bedouin guide. We camped out and lived the life of Bedouins for five days, carrying our own food and 3 litres of water. We averaged 23km per day by foot!
“The theme of our expedition was The Sands of Time, as it focused around the past, present and future; it honoured explorers and Bedouin tribes who had made the crossing many years ago. We wanted to cherish that tradition, and made sure that the fees paid for the crossing would be used to cover the cost of a course on desert exploration, for Omani girls and boys; hopefully inspiring a next generation.
“The route through the heart of the Sharqiya desert followed that of an ancient trade route across the sands called the Darb Muqta’a Habl, which translates into ‘the route that cuts between the tallest dunes’.
“The summer monsoon, which makes the sea too rough for fishing and coincides with the date harvest to the north of the sands, so in the days before there were cars, the fishing Bedouin used to travel north on camel to help with the harvest, before returning at the end of the monsoon. Crossing the desert traditionally involved a waterless journey of five days or more on camel, so it was not undertaken lightly, or often.
“In our trek, our days started at 5.30am and ended at 4pm. We took regular breaks to make sure everyone was well-hydrated, fuelled up with energy snacks and could attend to any blisters or collections of sand in their footwear! Team camping, cooking gear and additional water supplies were loaded in a Toyota pick up truck, which remained out of sight of the group.
Vast open spaces have mind-expanding properties, each step allowing us to download and delete the files cluttering up our heads; our crossing truly was a walking meditation. Living and walking as simply as we did with little or no distractions gave us all ample time to reflect, to think about life and love, our family and friends.
We have so many pictures and stories to share from our adventure. Atya, our camerawoman, is currently working on editing the hours of film she took to produce a short documentary so watch this space!
For more details on future retreats, including one on personal leadership and a renewal of spirit, mind and body, to go to www.mountainhighme.com
