How are you going to get more than a dozen people across the Sahara Desert and back?
What if one of the vehicles breaks down?
What will the team eat? How much will they eat?
Where will the team sleep? What if someone gets hurt?

When planning an expedition, these are just some of the questions you need to answer.

Vehicles- The team needs lightweight, maneuverable vehicles to transport people and supplies across the desert and to search for fossils in rocky or sandy terrain. A single large truck would be to slow and would not allow team member to conduct field operations in several places simultaneously.

The team outfitted five Land Rover trucks. Each vehicle has seats for passengers, storage space for food and gear, a roof rack for carrying additional equipment, two spare tires, a box of spare parts, and two dozen 20-liter containers (called "jerry cans") for fuel and water.

Food- Consider the following: If 15 people ate 5 lbs. of food each days (they would be working hard) for 90 days, the total weight of food consumed would be 6750 pounds! This weight, added to that of equipment and supplies, would have exceeded the carrying capacity of the vehicles. By taking dehydrated food, the team was able to cut total food weight down to 2500 pounds.

Fresh meat and vegetables are hard to find in the desert. The team uses pasta and rice as a food base with sauces and stews made from dried meat, dried vegetables, soup mixes, tomato powder and lots of spices. They even bring dessert into the desert- freeze-dried ice cream bars! Granola with powdered milk and instant oatmeal with dried fruit makes for a healthy breakfast. For lunch the teams eats leftovers from the previous night.

Camping Equipment- Each team member has their own tent, sleeping bag, and cot for the journey across the desert. Personal gear also consists of a small flashlight, pocket knife, hat, sunglasses, backpack, and canteen. The team packs large tents for work at the field site- one to store field equipment, one for study and work on fossils, and one that will function as the kitchen. Cooking takes place on gas stoves because electricity is not available. Camp lights run on electricity from car batteries that were recharged during the day in the vehicles.

Medical Supplies- Vehicle accidents and injuries from tools are the two most common emergencies in the field. Because most of the expedition will be spent more that 100 miles away from the nearest hospital, a fully equipped first-aid kit is kept on hand. It includes cream and lotions for sun exposure, pills for common ailments, antibiotics for infection, and a complete set of bandages. The medical kit even includes equipment for blood transfusions and a list of the blood type of each member. If there was a serious emergency, the team knows who has compatible blood types