Professor Khiwi visits the Bir Tawil!

Professor Khiwi was always curious!

He loved to explore! When he was a tiny kitten, he explored the basket he lived in.

When he was bigger, he explored the room that the basket was in.

When he was nearly grown-up, he explored the whole house!

And now that he is all grown-up, he explores the whole world!

One day, Professor Khiwi went to Egypt.

He had great fun and explored the Nile, which is a very big river in Egypt.

The Nile is the only thing that stops all of Egypt turning into a desert.

There is lots of desert in the parts of Egypt that are far away from the water!

The desert is called the Sahara Desert.

“I wonder what it’s like in the Sahara Desert part of Egypt,” Professor Khiwi wondered one day.

“We should go,” said one of the frogs who liked to travel with Professor Khiwi!

There was always something fun going on when Professor Khiwi was around! “It will be very hot though.”

The other frogs agreed that it would be very hot in the desert.

A passing dog laughed when he heard that, and he came over to say hello.

“It is hot in the desert,” he agreed. “Except at night.”

“At night?” asked Professor Khiwi.

“But surely if it’s hot during the day, it will be hot at night too?”

“Nah,” said the dog, sitting down and putting his head on one side as he explained!

“Because there are no clouds or anything to keep in the warm, as soon as the sun stops heating up the air and the sand, it gets pretty chilly.” How curious!

Professor Khiwi never knew the desert could be cold too! He was learning so much!

“Goodness!” said Professor Khiwi!

“Now I want to explore the desert even more!”

“I can take you, if you like,” said the dog.

“My name’s Papqa. It is said that my people used to be cattle herders for the humans in Egypt.“

Papqa helps people find their way in the desert!

“We’re a bit wild now, but we still like to help out when we can.”

“That is most astonishingly kind of you,” said Professor Khiwi. “I accept, with great delight.”

And so they set off early the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to come up.

They had a great time exploring the desert!

Professor Khiwi was pulling a little wagon with the frogs in, and when it couldn’t roll over the ground, it slid nicely along the sand.

They walked for hours, and Professor Khiwi was in awe. There was so much sand and it was beautiful.

It was very windy!

The wind moved the sand and it made the most unusual noises: like rainfall, like squeaking mice, and even like whale-song.

The dunes moved, sliding from one shape into another. Professor Khiwi stared and stared.

“Oh, it’s so amazing here,” said Professor Khiwi. “I would have been lost in a moment though.“

Papqa guides them through the sand dunes!

“How do you keep track of where you are going without being able to trust the sand to stay the same from one minute to the next?”

“I’m following my nose,” said Papqa.

Professor Khiwi knew that dogs have very good senses of smell and sniffed the air hopefully.

They found a very curious place! 

He could smell sand, and the frogs nearby (but he could hear them too, they were complaining about how hot they were!)…

…and… something else.

“Oh!” he said in surprise. “There’s something… sort of muddy?”

“That’s it,” said Papqa.

“We’re going to a Tall Water Well.”

“That sounds excellent!” said Professor Khiwi, tapping on the frogs’ shady umbrella.

“Do you hear that? A Tall Water Well!”

Then Professor Khiwi turned to Mushin and whispered, “What’s a Tall Water Well, exactly?”

Professor Khiwi  wonders (curiously!) how water is found in sand?!

Papqa explained that deep underneath the desert was a huge underground lake (this is called an aquifer), and that Tall Water Wells were wells that were dug very deep, in order to reach this water.

Professor Khiwi began to imagine a big pond, bubbling up with delicious cool water.

“Yes, it’s delicious water,” said the dog!

But then Papqa said, “But they aren’t quite deep enough, and sometimes there is not enough water for those who go to the well.”

“Oh, that’s sad,” said Professor Khiwi.

“But we’ll see in a moment,” said Papqa.

“The nearest Tall Water Well is just over that dune there.” 

Professor Khiwi was so happy the High Water Well was located in Egypt!

They got to the top of the dune and slid down on their bottoms.

“Whee!” laughed Professor Khiwi.
“Whee!” cheered the frogs.

Papqa trotted down the dune, smiling to himself and shaking his head.

It was too hot to play for long!

There was one small tree next to the well, and they all flopped into its shade, glad to be out of the sun’s warmth.

“Phew,” said Professor Khiwi. “It is even hotter than I thought it would be!”

“It is not so hot!” said a voice from behind them.

“Today is quite mild! Come back next month when it is really hot. As much as 120 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“Goodness!” said Professor Khiwi. “That would be too hot!”

“Yes,” said the man who was leading two camels towards the well. “Even for the camels, 120 degrees is too hot.”

There were many camels!

The man and his friends, each of whom were leading two or three camels, came up to the well and looked inside.

“There is not a lot of water,” said the man.

“The camels will finish it all. Take some before they drink.”

They were so thirsty!

“Oh, thank you!” said Professor Khiwi who set to work refilling his bottles.

Then, as the man had said, the camels finished all the water!

“It’s all gone!” said the frogs sadly. They had been hoping for some water to paddle in.

“Could we get more water” asked the frogs!

“So sorry,” said the man. “But camels drink a lot of water when they can, so they can walk far across the desert. But… we can teach you a rain dance, if you like?”

The frogs did like! They all had a sip of water and they were ready to dance.

The cats have a sacred dance for rain!

The cats showed them the dance while they watched.

Then Professor Khiwi and the frogs tried the steps while the men told them which way to step and clapped out the beat.

Then all of them danced the dance all the way through.

He took a sip of water and said, “Thank you for sharing your culture with us!”

All of them except Papqa, who sat and watched them, his tongue hanging from his mouth and a big smile on his face.

After that, the sun went down and it got quite cold!

The men went off with their camels and Professor Khiwi, Papqa, and the frogs all huddled together to stay warm.

And then it was time for bed!

Just before he fell asleep, Professor Khiwi said, “Papqa?”

“Yes, Professor,” yawned Papqa.

“I think this will do for our first visit to the desert.“

Professor Khiwi is already planning another trip!

“We’ll go back to the city tomorrow – I’ve realized that visits to the desert must be much more carefully planned! And that we must bring a lot more water with us!”

The End

And all the frogs agreed that bringing more water would be a very good idea indeed!