Walking the Taklamakan

In August 2016, adventurer Rob Lilwall set off to attempt a daring solo walk across China's most notorious desert, the Taklamakan. Taklamakan is often translated as 'he who goes in won't come out', its giant sand dunes rolling across 800 miles of the politically sensitive province of Xinjiang in China's wild west.

Unlike most other sandy desert travellers, who use camels, Lilwall instead decided to pioneer a new method by hauling a homemade beach cart called Odysseus. During the course of journey, he faced extreme heat and dehydration, swam across flooded rivers, spent many days without meeting other humans, crossed countless ranges of 100 metre high sand mountains, and had numerous encounters with local police.

In this compelling account of his journey, Rob also shares a deeply personal reflection on his internal journey as he attempts his daring solo walk. In Christian spirituality, the desert has always been known as a place to both seek God, and face demons. During his long weeks alone, Lilwall found himself facing profound questions about his priorities in life, failures and setbacks, his understanding of faith, and the meaning of 'success'. After much wrestling, to his surprise, he even found some resolution.