Paula Constant
Paula Constant is an Australian originally from Mansfield, Victoria and Broome, Western Australia. Before the walk began in 2004, Paula had no expedition or adventure experience, and was working as a Primary School teacher in London, where she lived with her husband Gary for several years. The walk took over three years to plan and save for.
Gary and Paula left London in August 2004. They walked, with very heavy packs, through France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. In Spain, they walked the length of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Paula completed her first book, “Slow Journey South” during the first leg of the walk.
The first leg of the walk ended exactly one year after the couple set off, in MHamid el Ghizlaine. Once there, Paula and Gary engaged a local operator to help them plan the next phase of their walk, a trans-Sahara crossing, from West to East. It was this part of the journey that had always particularly fascinated Paula, and her particular area of interest was the Bedouin tribes of Northern Africa. Her ambition was to live amongst the tribes as had done explorers such as Thesiger, before her – adhering to same customs and moral code as the nomads themselves.
Paula and Gary set out with the camels and local guides in September 2005. After six weeks, the couple decided to separate, and Gary left the walk. Paula carried on walking over 2,500km through the Sahara, to the border of Mauritania and the Western Sahara.
In April 2006 Paula returned to the UK, and then Australia, after her mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and Meniere’s disease. She decided to dedicate the next stage of her walk to raising money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and during the first half of 2006, Paula worked to find funding for the rest of the desert crossing. In September, she got confirmation from both Dove Cosmetics Australia and Birkenstock shoes, that they were coming on-board to fund the next stage. Paula began her walk in mid October 2006, and passed through Mauritania, Mali, and Niger before being stopped by civil war. Her first book, Slow Journey South, was released in 2008. Her second, Sahara, is due out in October 2009.
Paula writes…
I had no idea what it really meant to walk with a pack before I left. I just knew that I wanted to do something other than remain stuck in the cycle of work and pay, wondering if there was something else out there. I read and dreamed of adventure, and was determined to travel in a way that would allow me to be a part of the world around me, rather than watching it through the TV screen of car or bus. There was a rhythm and slow pace to the walking that appealed to me.
I loved the walk through Europe. I am a food fanatic, and Europe is definitely the place to indulge that particular passion. Although hauling the pack was tough going, and we walked through every conceivable weather pattern (including mid-winter in the Pyrenees) never once did I doubt that we were doing the right thing. Every day brought a new adventure, every country a new way of seeing the world.
The desert walk was a whole new ball game. The desert was my dream; it was what had driven me since London, or even before. It was the Sahara that I had imagined when I first thought of the walk, and it was this part of the walk that I had looked forward to, and been planning from the start. I had already gone down to Morocco some years before to begin organizing the camels and guides, and I found myself totally absorbed and fascinated by the culture and stark beauty of the Sahara itself.
But it was a hard walk, on many levels. Physically it was a great deal easier, as now the camels carried the packs. But mentally and emotionally it was a difficult time. Firstly, simply sharing one’s living space with two new people not of our own culture, and of a vastly different mindset, was a challenge I had both anticipated but not really understood. Rather than being isolated, the desert proved one of the most social places on earth, packed with Saharawi nomads – all of whom take the rule of hospitality seriously indeed! It was difficult to adjust the rhythm of walking to incorporate the constant invitations. It took me a long time to learn the intricacies and true etiquette of the Saharawi –although the rituals themselves may be easy to pick up, comprehending the subtle nuances behind different behaviours can be complex and confusing.
In the middle of all this Gary and I split up, which made everything somewhat more difficult. Walking with two people who did not speak my language, in isolation for sometimes up to a month, and walking through tough and often landmined territory, I discovered new reserves of strength and determination, and got a crash course in team work and diplomatic management.
The second desert walk was a whole new ballgame, and a much harder trek than anything I had ever undertaken before. Perhaps the hardest part was being stopped right when I felt certain of my ability to succeed.
“Sahara” was a difficult and intense book to write for me, and I found it difficult reliving some of the toughest emotional and physical challenges of my life. I hope the result makes for a good read.
Right now, I am hoping to walk through Australia. But I have learned to go where life takes me.