Three Canadians have taken the digital revolution to the world's largest desert.
Carrying laptops, satellite phones, a global positioning system, and personal locator beacons, they set off Tuesday in Salalah, Oman, hoping to become the first Westerners in more than 50 years to make the journey on foot.
A lot has changed since 1947, when Sir Wilfred Thesiger braved the 650-mile stretch of the Empty Quarter, where heat and quicksand are constant threats and water is nearly nonexistent. Willie didn't have a Web site where he updated his progress daily, that's for sure.
But while toting '90s technology, the Canadians, with a dozen camels in tow, are also giving a nod to tradition, wearing clothing and eating food that is traditional for the Bedouin, the nomadic people of the vast region.
Observers said on Tuesday that the trio set off around midday from the coastal town of Salalah riding camels and accompanied by three Omani guides.
"We are effectively a week behind our original plan, but we hope to make it up with some hard days on foot through the mountains and beyond," Jamie Clarke, a 30-year-old adventurer who scaled Mount Everest two years ago, posted on the team's Web site Monday.
"With our training complete, our camels fit, and our spirits soaring, we are off to face the Empty Quarter."
The trio has been in Oman for the last two weeks preparing for the journey. Each team member will carry a satellite global positioning system and two-way radio in case anyone gets separated from the party on the two-month journey, which is due to finish in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
They will also have personal locator beacons, which would be turned on in case of a dire emergency. And of course they'll have the laptop computer and satellite phone, to update their Web site and answer questions posed by schoolchildren following the trip.
Clarke is joined by his 33-year-old brother, Leigh Clarke, and Bruce Kirkby, 30. All are experienced mountaineers who live in Calgary.
On the way, the group -- braving sand temperatures as high as 185 degrees Fahrenheit -- must cross the Uruq al-Shaiba range of mountainous dunes, pass by the quicksand of Umm al-Samim ("Mother of Poison"), and hike across a 185-mile stretch that is devoid of any water supply.
Reuters contributed to this report.
