​Caravans of camels plodding across the vast expanses of desert are scenes reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia. Back in 1962 Peter O'Toole was filmed silhouetted in white robes shielding against a blist...

"Do you regret coming here?" Gunnar asks me with a glitter of guilt, likely because it was him to dig out the settlement in an outdated travel guide. "No, of course not," I reassure him, and I mean it...