Conception

Malcolm Risby

Toward the end of the autumn term in 1979, Riz and I were sitting over a pint in the bar in Linstead Hall  wondering what to do over the summer. We'd been at Imperial about ten weeks (it felt much longer).

Internships hadn't been invented or if they had, they weren't on our radar.

Quite possibly a function of the beer, Malcolm 'Riz' Risby suggested buying a VW van and driving to the Sahara. And with that, seed of the Imperial College North Sara Expedition was sewn.

Now 35 years on, it's time to provide an account mostly in images, of the expedition. It's also an opportunity to reiterate our thanks to all those who helped make it possible, particularly Bob Schroeder and Don Adlington of the of the Imperial College Exploration Board, Sir Michael Edwards of British Leyland, Dr. Ken Bignell, Imperial College Department of Atmospheric Physics.