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the Degree Confluence Project
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Libya : al-Butnān

2.5 km (1.6 miles) SE of Madīnat Bayād, al-Butnān, Libya
Approx. altitude: 136 m (446 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 32°S 156°W

Accuracy: 4 m (13 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: East view #3: South view #4: West view #5: GPS #6: Group photo #7: Wire enclosure along the road

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  32°N 24°E (visit #2)  

#1: North view

(visited by Giorgio Fiorentino, Fabio Scanferla, Marco Scanferla, Emilia Lombardi, Massimo Scanferla, Roberto Cappi, Maurizio Ferri, Matteo Maldini, Luca Maldini, Luigi Varani, Fabio del Giudice, Caterina Maiocchi, Achille de Dominicis and Valeria Artioli)

30-Dec-2006 -- During last Christmas holidays we made another travel through the Libyan desert, along the virtual line between Libya and Egypt, up to Jabal al-`Uwaynāt and the Sudan borderline. My travel mates in such an adventure were: Achille de Dominicis; Caterina Maiocchi; Fabio del Giudice; Luigi Vajani; Luca Maldini; Matteo Maldini; Maurizio Ferri; Roberto Cappi; Massimo Scanferla; Emilia Lombardi; Marco Scanferla; Fabio Scanferla; Valeria Artioli.

The travel began on 28 December 2006, and ended on 11 January 2007, an expedition of about 7000 km, of which 5000 km off-road, in one of the less tourism-visited areas in the Sahara desert, through the endless and impressive sand land of the huge Mare Magnum, among dunes, expenses of sand, rocky highlands, oasis, and lakes, looking for the Kabīra meteor crater. Then heading southwards to the borderlines of Chad and Sudan; and finally to Jabal al-`Uwaynāt, with its eastern buttresses, its hidden sources, and its 9000-years old petroglyphs. An itinerary including also the places of the Second World War Africa Campaign.

Along the carefully prepared travel we made several detours to reach the following Confluences supported by photographic evidence, and I kindly require, on behalf of all the above mentioned participants, to make them recorded, whether as discoverers or as simple visitors.

Confluence nr. 1
On Saturday, 30 December 2006 we visited the intersection between meridian 32° and parallel 24°. This Confluence is just outside the town of Tubruq, close to the French war cemetery, where the corpses of fallen Muslim soldiers fighting aside the Allies army have been buried.

In these places lie the remains of soldiers from all the main countries taking part in the conflict, except for the Italian ones, as the Italian government imposed the repatriation of the corpses.

This Confluence is in a private property, a field close to a house and bounded by a military store wall, a few meters off the road to Egypt. The owners of the property were very friendly and kind: they let us in and let us take pictures and whatever. This Confluence was one of the easiest to reach, but still it was one of the most significant because of the emotional impact due to the place: in Tubruq deep tracks of contemporary history have been left.

Continued at 28N 25E.


 All pictures
#1: North view
#2: East view
#3: South view
#4: West view
#5: GPS
#6: Group photo
#7: Wire enclosure along the road
ALL: All pictures on one page