Always respect the desert, and keep over-confidence under control: http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/lost-e ... 00740.html

Also, read the whole article - not only 7 Europeans needed rescuing, but also 51 locals... and they know the desert well!

Thx for sharing

Wow. I guess that's one tour guide who won't be getting a tip.

And in one of the comments after the article, there was a mention of "air pockets" in the sand that can swallow a whole car. Really?? Is that like quicksand, which you just sink down into? Anyone ever encountered anything like that?

I'm not too sure about these 'air pockets' in the sand, as sand flows easily into any empty space. But Thesiger did report of sebkha that could be crusty dry on top but swallow camels into a sort of gluey quicksand hidden below, so I would say that's where the 'air pockets' idea came from.

Ask anyone who's been stuck in sebkha after rains, and they will tell you how hard it is to get a car out of that gooey mud!!!! LOOOOL

So, I do suppose it is possible for the mud to be very deep and liquid enough to trap camels belly-deep if they step onto the dry surface without realizing. And there's no pulling a camel out of that mess without a crane!

I would further guess what the conditions might be: heavy rains, water collects in sebkha, water drains down into sebkha leaving some deep pools of just water, a sandstorm blows moving sand over the wet surface, some sand sticks and eventually a collection of sand covers the wet sebkha. You step through the crust into mud that is next to one of the deep water pools, the mud can move into the pool and the water can ooze into the hole in the mud you've just created, and that would be quicksand.