The British traveler Wilfred Patrick Thesiger was one of those affected by the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. He was born in Addis Ababa in 1910 and died in 2003 AD. He traveled to many Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and West Africa. He wrote several books about them and collected them in the book "Arabian Sands".
Among his most important companions were two young men from the al-Rawashid al-Kathiri tribe, Salem bin Ghubisha al-Rashidi al-Kathiri, and Thesiger called himself Mubarak bin London.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, President of the United Arab Emirates, awarded him a medal in appreciation of his precious efforts in discovering the Arab regions, when he visited his old companions in Abu Dhabi, namely Salem bin Kabina al-Rashidi Al-Kathiri and Salem bin Ghubaisha Al-Rashidi Al-Kathiri in 1990.
Thesger recounts the details of his meeting with Sheikh Zayed in the winter of 1949 AD, and he says: We arrived at Sheikh Zayed's palace, a man who looked upon his witty imagination, distinguished by his black headband and the way he wears his keffiyeh dropping on his shoulders instead of being wrapped around the head and was of great fame that people loved for its simplicity.
Then he goes on to say, and the servant of Sheikh Zayed offered us coffee and dates, and Sheikh Zayed asked me about my trip and he cared a lot to hear it and wondered how I managed to overcome the difficulties that I faced in many desert and tribal paths.
I told him, I claimed to be a Syrian merchant, so Sheikh Zayed said, laughing, if you did this with me, I would discover your case immediately, and this indicates the intensity of Sheikh Zayed's intelligence and acumen.
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