A FRENCH adventurer and his Mauritanian guide set out on Tuesday on a 1 150-kilometer trek across the Sahara, the longest distance between water holes that has ever been attempted on camel, one of his sponsors said. The trip by Regis Belleville et N’Taha Ould Bouessif will take them from Chinguetti in Mauritania to Timbuktu in Mali, the TV production company Gedeon said. The region includes the Majabat al-Koubra, the ”land of great solitude” in Arabic, which is one of the driest and loneliest places on the planet and is believed by many West African animists to be haunted by devils. The pair plan to carry enough water to survive the scheduled five-week mission, despite the aridity and extreme temperatures. The previous longest recorded distance between water holes on camel back was 875 kilometres, covered by the French scientist Theodore Monod, a great Sahara specialist. – Sapa-AFP