Tales of adventure, hardship, and ultimate success or failure has never been stronger with the case of Lazlo Almasy and his quest for the Lost City of Zerzura. It is a tale so strong that Almasy himself served as the template for the main character in the celebrated film, The English Patient. But it is the search for the lost city that is the heart of the story.
Born in 1895, Almasy was of Hungarian decent and upon reaching adulthood became fascinated with the invention of the airplane along with the mysteries of the Sahara Desert. He served as a pilot during World War One and afterwards made his way to North Africa. He spent his time mapping uncharted portions of the Libyan Desert and hearing tales of the Lost City of Zerzura
The Search for Zerzura
In 1929, Laszlo Almasy began his search for the Lost City of Zerzura in earnest. He teamed up with Prince Kemal el Din of Egypt and flew over the Gilf Kebir Plateau, a remote region that featured deep wadis and high ridges made of sandstone. Laszlo and his team saw valleys that had never been viewed by modern travelers.
They did not find the fabled “White City”, which was another name for Zerzura, but they did confirm that habitable valleys existed in the Sahara where few believed that they were real. The inaccessibility of the region was now made possible thanks to the use of aircraft flown by Laszlo Almasy.
The 1930s saw the high water mark for Almasy and his search for the fabled lost city. Arguably the most famous expedition was launched in 1933. On this journey, Laszlo and his team discovered prehistoric paintings on rock in Jebel Uweinat and Gilf Keber. The paintings depicted cattle, people, and swimming which indicated that the valley had once been quite fertile and inhabited.
The fabled “Cave of the Swimmers” became the focal point of Laszlo Almasy’s book, The Unknown Sahara, published in 1936, which helped to popularize the discoveries that he made along with promoting his beliefs in the Lost City of Zerzura.
Aftermath
Despite repeated efforts, Laszlo Almasy never found the Lost City of Zerzura. However, his many expeditions into the region transformed how the world saw the Libyan Desert. Almasy had mapped hundreds of miles of terrain that were previously unknown. And he had documented ancient art that showed early human settlements in the area. During a time in which the region was far more fertile than the desert it became.
Almasy’s legacy is complicated as he joined the Axis powers during World War II. His work in the Sahara was used by both German and British forces who fought in North Africa. Almasy served as a intelligence officer and pilot for the Axis during the war.
While Zerzura may never be found, the quest made by Laszlo Almasy helped pave the way for a greater understanding of the region and its remarkable history. The driving curiosity of Laszlo Almasy and his quest for the Lost City of Zerzura fueled discoveries of arguably greater distinction. At the very least, Almasy is one of the last great explorers of the Sahara Desert.
