Zerzura

Zerzura

Most of the desert has not been explored or mapped at the beginning of the 20th century (by Europeans). Rumours of lost oases, dating from early Arab writings passed down through generations, spurred interest. One of the oasis legends that capture the attention of explorers is the oasis of Zerzura. There was so much interest in this mythical oasis, that the Zezura club was founded by Major Ralph A. Bagnold in 1930.
Both real lice and fictional Almasy are fascinated by the idea of this oasis. It was believed that Zerzura was located somewhere on the Gilf Kebir Plateau, whose elevation would allow for rains. During a lecture given to the geographic society, Dr. Bermann mentions Almasy’s fascination in the myth,
“Soon [Almasy] had become fascinated by the old problem, and he would discuss it with me. Since the times of the Egyptians, he explained, there had been a vague but persistent rumour of fertile lands lying in the desert west of the Nile. The famous expedition King Cambyses army against the oasis of Jupiter Ammon could have been planned if the existence of water somewhere in the middle desert had not been known. All through the Middle Ages Arab writers told about a hidden oasis; the name of Zerzura-meaning probably "Oasis Little Birds"-had been mentioned for the first time in the thirteenth century” (Bermann, Historic Problems of the Libyan Desert, 456).
Many lectures and articles written for the Geographical Society refer to Zerzura. John Ball, Director of Desert Surveys, Egypt, gave a lecture in 1927 titled “Problems of the Libyan Desert”. In one section it discusses the difficulty in finding Zerzura due to the contradictory information about the oasis, as well as possibilities of where it might be.
While it is never found in real life (the Zerzura club was recently resurrected), in the novel Almasy finds Zerzura. Ondaatje writes “By the mid-1930s the lost oasis of Zerzura was found by Ladislaus de Almásy and his companions” (Ondaatje 1635-1636).