Episode 1 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Duration: 59'09''

Synopsis

James Cracknel and Ben Fogle trek deep into the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert in the footsteps of explorer Wilfred Thesiger. They train with Bedouin tribesman and, with only four grumpy camels for company, push themselves and their friendship to the limit.

Further Information

More clips from Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

More resources about Hot deserts

02: Deserts - Life in the Furnace | Human Planet

02: Deserts - Life in the Furnace | Human Planet

BBC One | 2011 | 59'01''

A look at how the eternal quest for water brings huge challenges - and ingenious solutions - for millions of people in the d...

Moisture in the Atacama | Planet Earth

Moisture in the Atacama | Planet Earth

BBC One | 2006 | 3'56''

Life exists in a strip of the Atacama Desert due to fog that blows in from the sea.

Flash flood | Planet Earth

Flash flood | Planet Earth

BBC One | 2006 | 2'37''

A flash flood is a rare chance for wildlife to build up food and water reserves.

Life in Death Valley | Planet Earth

Life in Death Valley | Planet Earth

BBC One | 2006 | 1'09''

A single shower can transform Death Valley.

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

S01E02: Lion People of the Kalahari | Tribes, Predators & Me

S01E02: Lion People of the Kalahari | Tribes, Predators & Me

BBC Two | 2016 | 58'35''

Gordon Buchanan joins a group of Bushmen in Botswana's Kalahari Desert to learn how to survive on foot among wil...

Sandstorm | Planet Earth

Sandstorm | Planet Earth

BBC One | 2006 | 4'47''

How the desert is shaped by sandstorms.

Desertification | Newsnight

Desertification | Newsnight

BBC Two | 2017 | 8'36''

Featuring the wall of green land preventing desertification in sub-Saharan Africa.

01: Kalahari | Africa

01: Kalahari | Africa

BBC One | 2013 | 58'39''

David Attenborough explores two deserts in Africa's south west, where he encounters meerkats, black rhinos, giant insects and the greatest giraffe batt...

04: Desert Worlds | The Green Planet

04: Desert Worlds | The Green Planet

BBC One | 2022 | 58'33''

Desert plants spend decades in suspended animation waiting for rain, or they travel to find it. They survive using weapons, camouflage a...

05: Sahara | Africa

05: Sahara | Africa

BBC One | 2013 | 59'17''

David Attenborough's breathtaking journey through Africa. In the Sahara Desert, huge zebras battle for resources, camels seek water, and tiny swallows se...

Desertification | Nature

Desertification | Nature

BBC Two | 1989 | 7'51''

John Howard rep from Almeria, SE Spain - driest place in Europe, where tomatoes grow in plastic greenhouses, & soil erosion causes desert to advance

Living without water: humans copying nature | Human Planet: Change and Sustainability

Living without water: humans copying nature | Human Planet: Change and Sustainability

BBC Two | 2011 | 5'01''

Ways humans mimic desert plants and animals to conserve or gather water.

04: Kalahari | Wilderness with Simon Reeve

04: Kalahari | Wilderness with Simon Reeve

BBC Two | 2024 | 59'09''

Simon Reeve crosses the parched desert of southern Africa, tracking wildebeest with the famous hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari, b...

12: Australia's Red Centre | Nature's Microworlds

12: Australia's Red Centre | Nature's Microworlds

BBC Four | 2012 | 29'07''

Steve Backshall reveals huge kangaroos, the world's most venomous snake and a burrowing toad living among the throng of ani...

Living without water: finding water using ancient skills | Human Planet: Change and Sustainability

Living without water: finding water using ancient skills | Human Planet: Change and Sustainability

BBC Two | 2011 | 7'26''

Time-tested survival techniques for locating hidden water in dry landscapes.

02: The Mucubal | Tribe with Bruce Parry

02: The Mucubal | Tribe with Bruce Parry

BBC Two | 2025 | 58'55''

Bruce Parry visits the Mucubal, a community surviving in Angola's harsh Namib Desert, and experiences an extraordinary way of life p...

03: Mongolia | Kate Humble: Living with Nomads

03: Mongolia | Kate Humble: Living with Nomads

BBC Two | 2015 | 59'10''

In her final journey of the series, Kate Humble travels deep into the Gobi Desert to live with an extended family of cashmere ...

03: The Heat | Landmarks

03: The Heat | Landmarks

CBBC | 1994 | 18'59''

A look at the struggles of people in Tunisia, where life involves a constant battle against the heat and the sand.

04: Beyond the Great Wall | Wild China

04: Beyond the Great Wall | Wild China

BBC Two | 2008 | 58'54''

From tribes hunting with eagles to the baking deserts of central Asia, the extreme landscapes in northern China mean life is always on...

More from Ben Fogle

S01E02: Southern Outer Hebrides | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

S01E02: Southern Outer Hebrides | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

BBC Scotland | 2021 | 59'00''

Ben Fogle explores Catholic island life and whether the physical aspect of the landscape makes it ...

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

Episode 2 | Ben and James versus the Arabian Desert

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'00''

James Cracknell and Ben Fogle travel across the world's largest sand desert. As they try to pick up the pace disaster str...

S01E03: Northern Outer Hebrides | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

S01E03: Northern Outer Hebrides | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

BBC Scotland | 2021 | 59'08''

Ben Fogle returns to Taransay, the island where, over 20 years ago, he took part in the TV show Ca...

S01E01: Inner Hebrides | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

S01E01: Inner Hebrides | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

BBC Scotland | 2021 | 59'03''

Ben Fogle explores the ancient sea roads of the Inner Hebrides. He visits Iona, the cradle of Christianity,...

S01E04: Shetland | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

S01E04: Shetland | Scotland's Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle

BBC Scotland | 2021 | 59'04''

Travelling across Shetland, Ben Fogle meets people whose lives are rooted to these islands' history and visits a ...