Italian expat planning to trek across Lut Desert

The Dubai-based Italian expat is making it his mission to cross the harsh terrain in December, with a view to taking it on again at the hottest time of year in 2016.

Veteran extreme athlete Max Calderan is planning to navigate Iran’s Lut desert in December. His hike is to bring awareness to the plight of endangered Asiatic cheetahs. Courtesy Max Calderan

DUBAI // With land-surface temperatures that can reach more than 70 degrees Celsius, the Lut desert in Iran is the hottest place on Earth and not the kind of place you should be trekking – but that is not going to stop Max Calderan.

The Dubai-based Italian is making it his mission to cross the harsh terrain in December, with a view to taking it on again next year at the hottest time.

“When I was a child someone told me of big deserts that are impassable, with very high sand dunes that no caravan or car can explore,” said Mr Calderan. “I asked myself why? Just because other people say it is impossible? I said to myself, ‘Sorry, but I am Max Calderan and I have my own way to take’.”

Nasa satellites monitored the area for several years and found, during the summer, temperatures can exceed 70° Celsius at its hottest section.

“Everyone said that I am crazy but it is not true. I know I can do it. I prepared myself with other records in summer time in recent years,” said the 48-year-old, who regularly treks 100 kilometres across the Western Region.

Mr Calderan, who has worked for nearly 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry researching sleep deprivation, once ran 437km across Oman, following the line of the Tropic of Cancer, in 90 hours. He also ran 360km in 75 hours across Saudi Arabia’s desert in summer time when temperatures exceeded 58°.

In 2013, he made a “spiritual journey” crossing the desert of the Sinai Peninsula during Ramadan while fasting, stopping five times during the day to observe prayers.

Temperatures reached 45 degrees as he started his run from Oyun Musa to Nuweba, covering 240km in about 72 hours.

“You have to write your own book. None of us is an average person. All of us have heard the physician’s general advice for average people according to international studies. Of course their advice is useful, but I am not average and for me maybe it is not useful.”

Mr Calderan will first try to cross the Lut desert in December, covering around 400km, north to south, following what has been called an impossible line.

“It is believed that it is impossible to cross this desert on foot because of the tangled and confused mass of sand dunes which are 450 metres high.”

It is in these areas where the last Asiatic cheetahs can be found. Around 70 are believed to still exist.

“This is an opportunity for the cheetahs and other desert animals to be saved by drawing attention to their endangered situation,” Mr Calderan said.

The trip is in aid of the United Nations Development Programme’s Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project to save the endangered animal. Mr Calderan is the project’s ambassador.

“Much of what the UN does to support this emblematic species has been done on a daily basis for the past 10 years. So, while it is true that the pressures of modernisation, the encroachment of humans, roads and settlements, plus shooting by poachers of both the Asiatic Cheetah and their prey have all caused the number of these emblematic creatures to dwindle to fewer than 100. It is really never too late.”