Mahmoud Marai is in his mid thirties, father of two and one of the youngest desert experts in the Egyptian Sahara. After his studies, which took him to Greece and California and earned him a Bachelor degree in Science, he taught Chemistry at private schools in Cairo .
In March 1997 he went for the first time to Siwa accompanied by his cousin Mohammed Fayez Marai.
In 1998 their expedition to the Gilf el Kebir, the Uwineate and the Great Sand Sea was cut short due to lack of finances and limited resources . It was during this expedition that Mahmoud devoted himself to the desert and the Gilf al Kebir and the Uwienate. A year later Mahmoud crossed into the Libyan side of the desert, and from that time on yearly expeditions into the desert followed, often accompanied by his cousin, but now well-experienced to carry out the expeditions. During his journeys up to 2003 he discovered un-surveyed places, new rock paintings and new routes. By the end of 2003 he took tourists for the first time into the desert on a 3 weeks expedition. Since 2004 Mahmoud Marai conducted regular daring expeditions into the heart of the Libyan Desert .
In the past five years Mahmoud Marai had written 42 published articles in a number of local and international magazines.
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