While the attention of the adventure world has been focused on Antarctica, amid excitement, nostalgia and debate sparked by the centenary of the Amundsen-Scott race to the South Pole, another commemoration has taken place a world away —in the completely dissimilar environs of the Arabian desert.

British adventurer Adrian Hayes completed his Footsteps of Thesiger Expedition in 44 days over October 29 - December 13, 2011. Setting off from Salalah in Oman, he crossed the Empty Quarter or the Great Arabian Desert and entered the UAE, ending his expedition on Corniche Beach in Abu Dhabi. The expedition also marked the 40th anniversary of the UAE and was supported by its armed forces.

Hayes’ expedition was a retracing of the two crossings of the desert by his extraordinary countryman, Wilfred Thesiger, between 1945 and 1950. Thesiger, who was called Mubarak Bin London by his Arab friends, crossed the Great Arabian Desert — which is known as the Empty Quarter or Rub Al Khali —twice with two Bedouin friends, Salim bin Kabina and Salim bin Ghubaisha of the Rawashid tribe. Thesiger told the tale in his fascinating Arabian Sands.

In an exact commemoration, Hayes also accomplished his crossing with two Bedouin men — Saeed Al Mesafry and Ghafan Al Jabri. They were selected from a list of nominations. Like Thesiger’s party, the Hayes party also travelled on foot and camelback on the same route through the Empty Quarter, Liwa and Al Ain. The route covered a total distance of over 1,500 km. And, like Thesiger and his companions, they carried some provisions to survive, using seven camels, and took the rest of what they needed from Bedouin tribesmen and the desert itself. Hayes wore traditional Arab clothes, as Thesiger had done for protection from the desert conditions.

Hayes is no less a remarkable man than Thesiger. Well-versed in desert survival strategy from the days when he served in southern Oman as a British Army Gurkha officer, he speaks Arabic and lives in the UAE. He set a new Guinness World Record in 2007 for walking to Earth’s ‘Three Poles’ (North Pole, South Pole and Mt Everest) in the shortest time, though the record has since been broken. He was the 15th person to do the Three Poles.

In 2009, he set another Guinness World Record, which still stands, when he and two companions crossed the Greenland ice cap in the longest unsupported kite-skiing expedition in the Arctic.

His teammates were Canadians Devon McDiamid and Derek Crowe.

Hayes says he had dreamt of retracing Thesiger’s expedition for years and began planning the Footsteps of Thesiger Expedition after his Greenland Quest venture. Ahead of the expedition, he had said, “The journey will take place against some of the most beautiful yet harshest desert environments on the planet.

Honouring the culture and heritage of the Bedouin, the UAE and Oman, together with the extraordinary travels of Thesiger and his companions, we aim to travel and survive by means as close as possible to the methods used by the 1940s expedition team.”

His two companions were experienced camel drivers who were up to the task of crossing what is considered fearsome desert terrain, with sand dunes more than 250 m tall and searing temperatures above 50°C. They were, in effect, using the skills their forefathers had used in the past.