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Brought to a standstill in a sandstorm, blown up in
the searing heat of a Ghibli wind,
the Libyan desert was not the most
comfortable place to be. It was akin
to being hosed down with red hot grit whilst standing in front of an open
blast furnace door. On one three man desert walkabout, down on the Algerian border, we met just such conditions
and had to hole up for the best part of three days. When the storm abated, and we were able
to get ready to move on, the view before us was quite startling. First the vehicle had to be dug out of
the sand which had built up against one side and halfway across the
roof. The track we had been on had
almost disappeared, it was just possible to make out a few sections in the
direction we were heading. The landscape had undergone dramatic change, the
wind had altered the shapes of the surrounding dunes and it was a whole new
scene before us. One had the greatest respect for the people who walked
with the camel trains, heading unerringly across the desert for the
isolated towns and villages to deliver supplies of salt and vital
commodities. Not for them the luxury of the Sat-Nav of today. Stars, an
understanding of nature, and an inbuilt sense of direction were all they
had or even needed.
That preamble paints a very harsh picture of the
country and yet it could be a land of stunning scenery and outstanding
history. My three year tour there, 1956 – 59 based on Tripoli, passed all too quickly. In the
linked sections I try to show a side of Libya that many on short
postings may not have seen. The main
pictures have lain hidden in the back of an old album for nearly fifty
years. They were saved from two
calendars which I think were 1957 and 1958, and I have mixed them to show
the scenic and historic sides of the country.
There is a great variance in the spelling of many
place names due to different periods of history, some having up to six
alternatives. I have gone with the spelling as I knew it but fully accept
that others will remember things differently.
The names of the photographers have been lost in the
mists of time but I fully acknowledge their work in recording the best
sights of Libya.
They are supplemented with some of my own photographs, unfortunately in
black and white, and a few comments to help paint the picture of life as I
knew it in Libya.
One enduring memory I have is of lying back against
the wheel of a vehicle, wrapped in a blanket in the middle of the night and
gazing up into a blue-black inky sky, unspoilt by man-made light pollution,
and looking at myriads of stars with the occasional shooting star flashing
across the horizon at breakneck speed. There was the feeling that to stand
up and take one pace forward would be to step into a whole new
universe.
Please Note:
Some photos are
numbered to identify them as the work of Galen R
Frysinger, a much travelled man, and as such remain his property. His
web site contains many remarkable collections of photographs from his world
travels. I have used some to illustrate areas I visited but of which I have
no photographs of my own.
Copyright © Galen R
Frysinger. His web site can be visited from
here. 
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