Captivated by the confluence

Adventurers seek out imaginary points on Earth where latitudes crosses longitudes


Because it was there," is the answer given by many people to the question, "Why would anyone do something like that?"

People climb mountains, dive to the deepest depths, all merely because these are some sort of achievable or measurable feats. Perhaps that is why, around the world, people are seeking out – racing to be the first in many cases – an invisible point, known as a degree confluence, simply because they exist.

The world is crossed North to South and East to West with imaginary lines known as lines of latitude (East-West) or longitude (North-South), which are used as a means of measuring distances, mapping or navigating by land, air and sea. These lines cross each other at thousands of points, known as confluences.

In 1995 an American walker called Alex Jarrett bought a hand held GPS (Global Positioning System) which he began taking out with him. Noticing one day that he was near one of these invisible crossing points, he decided to go and have a look. Despite there being nothing remarkable at that location, he set up a website dedicated to these meeting points of imaginary lines.

Soon people were captivated by the idea and began visiting degree confluences all around the world and photographing them. In the process of doing so, many stories of old-fashioned adventure and exploration were produced, which in turn fired further imaginations.

One of these was a Scot in Abu Dhabi, Alasdair MacKenzie. When MacKenzie, an experienced desert driver, heard through a friend about this project, he realised he could do the same.

The first confluence MacKenzie visited was in Oman. At this point the lines' crossing point lies about 200m from the road to Nizwa and so was an easy spot to reach, even accessible by saloon car. Since then MacKenzie has been visiting the confluences in Abu Dhabi. In November he set out to visit the last onshore confluence in the UAE, 23N 53E, which was 37.6 km (23.3 miles) South South West of Zuwayhir, in Abu Dhabi emirate.

In true pioneering style, MacKenzie's first attempt to reach the confluence point failed. Undeterred, he gathered a small convoy of four-wheel drive cars together and led the way out of Abu Dhabi, early in December. One member of the convoy had helped in the UAE Desert Challenge, whose route had, a few weeks earlier gone through the area. He realised with knowledge gained from the rally that because of the area's terrain, the best way to approach was from the north. So the convoy set off south from the capital towards the Liwa oasis and into the big dunes where camp was set up for the night.

Next day after the initial morning fog had lifted and camping equipment and children were re-loaded into the cars, the convoy set off again, climbing and dipping in and out of the dunes. For an hour or so, driving on the soft sand and the daunting dunes, the cars ploughed on slowly, MacKenzie leading, using the route his GPS indicated and aiming for the confluence.

Eventually, the lead car stopped. MacKenzie climbed out, GPS in hand. He looked down into a bowl of soft sand. Did the convoy have to negotiate its way in and out of that? Was he lost? He walked down the slope of a dune, stopped and turned left, then right, staring intently at the GPS. Finally, almost reverently, he laid the GPS on the sand. "It's here!" he called to the convoy.

Doors opened and passengers ran down the slope to see the magic zeroes indicating the satellites were pointing at the meeting point of latitude line 53' East and longitude line 23'North. Almost immediately the doubters ran back to collect their own GPS systems from their cars to double-check the data.

Looking round, the slopes of the sand dunes, heat reflecting off them, dominated the scene. People were minute in comparison. Children unaware of their position on the Earth were using its surface to slide down the sand and climb slowly up again. Now that MacKenzie had reached the degree confluence point, it was time to take some photographs of the locale, have some lunch and start what turned out to be the very long drive back home to the city.

For MacKenzie, the journey's purpose was fulfilled. The confluence point had been visited and could be added to the original Degree Confluence Project begun by Jarrett seven years earlier.

According to the project's official website, if one excludes the confluence points in oceans and some of those near the two poles, there are still more than 13,000 points in the world to be visited.