Adventurer Crosses Parched Australian Desert Unassisted

Outdoorzy is reporting on a Belgian man who crossed the dry-as-a-bone Simpson Desert in Australia with no resupply and no aid. Louis-Phillipe Loncke is the first man ever to cross the world’s longest sand dunes desert, unassisted, from north to south. The journey took him 35 days.

Loncke traveled the 800km (or so) towing a cart in which he carried all of the food and water he needed for the trip. He made it to the other side of the Simpson Desert on August 20th and while he was forced to make some changes in his plan, he managed to complete the trek all by himself.

Loncke tells Outdoorzy that the cart proved too heavy to carry with the full load, so he was forced to carry half his provisions to a stopping point, go back with an empty cart for the rest, and so on the entire way. That’s twice the work! Here’s what Loncke had to say:

“Was so hard at the start that I had to cut the weight into two. I had to go with half the weight to a point until sunset and walk back to morning point during the night with the empty cart. Then I would go the next day with the other half and so on. I did not wash for 33 days (found 1 foot deep water in Macumba creek). All water was used for drinking. I had 140 liters at the start. Finished with 10 liters at the end. The average consumption of a European is 150 liters per day, and 300 liters for an American. I can’t ask people not to wash or not to consume water like I did, but I’m sure with proper education and effort, we can all be below 50 liters per day!”

Sounds like a difficult trek. Loncke raises an important point about water consumption, too. We use far too much water on a daily basis in the U.S. and at a time when fresh water is becoming more and more scarce. It’s up to each of us to do our part to minimize water consumption. We need far less than we use. If Loncke can cross the Simpson Desert in 35 days with only 140 liters of water, and we use an average of 300 liters of water a day, there’s a lot of room for improvement.