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Morocco RPCV Jeffrey Tayler’s Glory in a Camel’s Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert (Houghton Mifflin) tells how he became intrigued by the romance of Islam’s rich cultural past in general, and by the Bedouin and the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula in particular



Morocco RPCV Jeffrey Tayler’s Glory in a Camel’s Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert (Houghton Mifflin) tells how he became intrigued by the romance of Islam’s rich cultural past in general, and by the Bedouin and the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula in particular

Glory in a Camel’s Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert

By george fetherling

Publish Date: 2-Jun-2005

Jeffrey Tayler’s Glory in a Camel’s Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert (Houghton Mifflin) tells how he became intrigued by the romance of Islam’s rich cultural past in general, and by the Bedouin and the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula in particular. In 1987 he “sailed from Algeciras in southern Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco, from where [he] intended to make [his] way east across the entire Arab world.” Because of a bad case of food poisoning in Morocco, however, he never reached his destination, Baghdad. Instead, Tayler returned to the U.S. and joined the Peace Corps, which promptly sent him back to Morocco. There he heard tales of the Draa Valley, which begins about 240 kilometres southeast of Marrakesh and connects with the Sahara.

“From the 9th through the 15th century,” he writes, “the Draa served as one of the main caravan routes between Europe and Timbuktu. The desert-wise Bedouin, or Ruhhal (from the Arabic rahala, ‘to wander from place to place’) in the Arabic dialects of North Africa, were the master navigators of this 1,100–mile channel across the sea of sand.” As this excerpt suggests, Tayler is generous in passing along to readers his knowledge of Arabic and also at weaving in historical context.

Tayler made his journey across the desert in the late 1990s. What’s most memorable about his detailed and nuanced account is how thoroughly the poor Bedouin had abandoned so many of their traditional ways for an uncomfortable foothold in the contemporary world.

When this story was posted in June 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:



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June 6: PC suspends Uzbekistan program Peace Corps has announced that it is suspending the Uzbekistan program after the visas of 52 Peace Corps volunteers who arrived in January were not renewed. The suspension comes after a State Department warning that terrorist groups may be planning attacks in Uzbekistan and after the killings in Andizhan earlier in May. Background: PCOL published a report on April 23 that Peace Corps volunteers who arrived in January were having visa difficulties and reported on safety and visa issues in Uzbekistan as they developed.

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June 5, 2005: Special Events Vote in the NPCA Election for new board before June 15 "American Taboo" author Phil Weiss in Maryland on June 18 "Rainforests and Refugees" showing in Portland, Maine until June 25 "Iowa in Ghana" on exhibit in Waterloo through June 30 RPCV's "Taking the Early Bus" at Cal State until Aug 15 RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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May 28, 2005: This Week's Top Stories The Coyne Column: Love and War in Afghanistan 28 May Sam Farr supports Coffee Growers in Colombia 28 May Elaine Chao wins Woman of Valor award 27 May Nebraska has strong ties with Afghanistan 27 May Arthur Orr to seek Alabama State Senate seat 26 May Murder of John Auffrey remembered in Liberia 26 May Bill Moyers says journalists should be filters for readers 26 May Linda Seyler spent two years in Thailand digging latrines 25 May Chris Shays blasts Bush on stem cell research 25 May George Wolfe to head Loudoun Academy of Science 25 May David Rudenstine heads Cardozo School of Law 24 May Mark Schneider says declaration is "pretty thin gruel" 24 May Robert Blackwill supports seat for India on Security Council 24 May Chris Matthews weighs Thomas Jefferson nomination 24 May Jim Knopf is expert on xeriscape gardening 23 May Mae Jemison receives honorary degree at Wilson 23 May Kenneth Proudfoot says dreams come true 22 May

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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