Written By: Michael D. McClellan The Sahara has changed, but it remains a desert without compromise, the largest and most oppressive on earth. There is no place as dry and hot and hostile. There are few places as huge and as wild. It is roughly the size of the United States, 3.6 million square miles filling the northern third of Africa, an area so vast that it spans 11 countries. It’s so arid that most bacteria cannot survive there; its loneliness is so extreme it is said that migratory birds will land beside travelers, just for the company.

Doc Hendley knows a thing or two about the Sahara.

The North Carolina native has spent plenty of time in the region as part of his Wine To Water non-profit, helping to provide clean water to victims of Sudan’s government-supported genocide. The award-winning humanitarian has not only been baked by the Sahara’s intense heat, he’s been shot at, ambushed, and extorted by its people. He’s had to talk his way through roadblocks set up by SLA rebels and Janjaweed fighters alike, dropping the names of local commanders and tribal leaders in order to be allowed to pass… Read the rest of Doc’s interview with celeb journalist Michael McClellan here.