Ardito Desio - Exploration of Mountains in Africa

Exploration of Mountains in Africa

In 1926, Desio organized and led a geographical and geological expedition to the Oasis of Jaghbub, in the Libyan Desert. The scientific results of these investigations are published in four volumes by the Royal Geographical Society of Italy, the organization that sponsored the expedition.

From 1930 to 1933 he led some geological and geographical expeditions through the hinterland of Libya, including the crossing of the Sahara desert with a large caravan of camels from the Mediterranean seaboard as far as the frontier of Sudan and back through Fezzan, across the Libyan Sahara (summer 1931). The report of this expedition was also published in four volumes.

In 1935 and 1936 he further explored the Fezzan, from both the geological and hydrological point of view, and the Tibesti massif in the Central Sahara. From 1936 to 1940, he organized and directed the Libyan Geological Survey, which included research into mining and artesian waters by order of the Government of Libya. Desio discovered in 1938 natural oil in the subsurface of Libya. In the same years he discovered also an exploitable deposit of Carnallite in the Oasis of Marada, and rich artesian aquifers in some zones of Northern Libya, which gave a strong impulse to the development of the agriculture. Further exploration in this region was however halted by the outbreak of World War II.

During the winters of 1937 and 1938, Desio explored Wallega and the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Eastern Ethiopia, both from the point of view of the geology and mining, discovering some new deposits of gold and molybdenite.

In 1940 he organized and directed an expedition to Tibesti, employing automobiles and aircraft. The scientific reports were published in a volume by the Royal Geographical Society of Italy.

In the same year he organized and directed a mining exploration in Northern Albania.