The Woman Who Disguised Herself to Explore the Desert

In 1920, British explorer Rosita Forbes did something nearly unthinkable for a European woman at the time: she adopted a local disguise, presenting herself as the wife of an Egyptian guide, and entered the Libyan Sahara under the name Sitt Khadija riding into the Libyan Sahara. Her destination was Kufra, a remote oasis controlled by the Senussi Order and considered completely off-limits to outsiders, especially Westerners, and especially women.

Forbes knew the risks. Kufra was not just remote, it was a stronghold of anti-colonial resistance and religious conservatism. Foreigners were forbidden under threat of death. Yet, she made it there... and back. Her journey became one of the most daring—and overlooked—episodes of early 20th-century exploration.