History Main / CrossingTheDesert

* in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', Film/JamesBond and Anya Amasova walk and walk and walk throughout the Egyptian desert after their getaway car breaks down, eventually reaching a dock.

* ''WesternAnimation/AThousandAndOneAmericas'': In the eleventh episode, Chris and his pet dog long traverse the Sechura Desert to deliver a message to a decoder in the city of Moche. They do travel across a man-made road that takes them to the city, so at least they won't get lost. However, later in the episode, they and a friendly Incan who is giving them a tour do traverse into the desert off-road so they can see some harvest fields, and on the way back during the sunset they're caught by a severe sandstorm. To make matters worse, a group of enemy soldiers they were alerted about early on end up intercepting them; while Lon and the Incan put a fight, Chris is easily outmatched, leading him to wake up (it is AllJustADream).

* The first chapter of ''The Bloody Road to Death'' by Creator/SvenHassel has two sections doing this as the only way to escape being encircled by guerillas in the Balkans. Even the [[AFatherToHisMen Old Un]] has to kill two of his men to stop them stealing water from the others.

* Brutha crossed the desert from Ephebe to Om with Vorbis on his back in ''Literature/SmallGods''. Om continually insists on dumping Vorbis, because it's what Vorbis would do and also what he deserves. Brutha refuses, "because I'm ''me''." There is also the metaphysical crossing of the desert; dead souls are taken to the black desert by [[GrimReaper Death]], and they then must cross it and they then go to the afterlife they believed in. And Vorbis's disproving of the concept that no army could cross the desert: they could, if you do it in stages, don't care how many people die in the process, and start ''long before your pretext for war is in place''.

* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series begins the mysterious, cowboy-like protagonist chasing an equally mysterious man in black across a desert.
-->'''Narrator''': The Man in Black fled across the desert, and [[TheDeterminator the Gunslinger followed]].
* In the beginning of Willa Cather's ''Death Comes for the Archbishop,'' Bishop Latour must cross the New Mexico desert to Santa Fe.
* In Creator/LFrankBaum's ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'', the second [[Literature/LandOfOz Oz book]], Mombi tries this to escape Glinda. Glinda catches her.
** Subverted in another book in the series, ''Road To Oz'', where the heroes get a sailed sand-boat built for them, making the crossing relatively quick and easy. (Also, touching the sand of this particular desert is deadly, so they couldn't walk across even if they wanted to...)
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's "[[Literature/XuthalOfTheDusk The Slithering Shadow]]" Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian and a girl are crossing the desert away from a disastrous battle.
* An odd example, from Creator/LaurenceYep's ''Literature/DragonSeries'' - In ''Literature/DragonOfTheLostSea'', the dragon Shimmer injures her wing, and she and the boy Thorn have to cross a dried out sea on foot. Since all the water was removed from the sea instantaneously [[AWizardDidIt via magic]], the dry seabed is a desert plain of blindingly white salt flats, with periodic stinging salt winds.
* In the first book of the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', Eragon, Murtagh, and Saphira have to cross the Hadarac Desert to reach the Varden.
* Dany takes her followers across the Red Waste in ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' as hostile forces lurk in every other direction. They quickly run out of food and water, horses die, and many of her followers, including [[spoiler: Doreah]], do not survive.
* Briefly in ''Literature/CountAndCountess'' when the Turkish army sets up camp in Syria. A young Vlad Dracula, who has been taken hostage by the Ottomans and forced into the [[ChildSoldiers Janissaries]], complains unendingly of the heat.
* ''Flyaway'' by Desmond Bagley. The protagonists are stranded in the Sahara when the villains come across their 4WD, emptying the fuel and water tanks. Their only recourse is to walk across the desert to a camel track in the hope of getting picked up. Even when they reach their goal they can't rest, as it's nighttime and the camel train could easily go past without seeing them, so they have to spend all night walking backwards and forwards across the track until they blunder into a camel.
* Happens ''twice'' to the company of heroes in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and ''Literature/TheMalloreon'', once in each saga. Both events take place in the hostile lands of the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Murgos.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in the sci-fi novel ''Literature/KilnPeople'' when Albert has to walk across a desert, and assumes his grandfather would have laughed as such a dangerous task, given that he risked his life every day driving to work (he lives in a future where people use expendable clones for anything involving the slightest risk).
* Done separately by The Jaff and Tesla Bombeck in Creator/CliveBarker's ''The Great and Secret Show''; the desert is in New Mexico and the destination is [[AtomicHate Trinity]].
* The first chapter of ''The Bloody Road to Death'' by Creator/SvenHassel has 2 Section doing this as the only way to escape being encircled by guerillas in the Balkans. Even the [[AFatherToHisMen Old Un]] has to kill two of his men to stop them stealing water from the others.
* In the ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'', Ehiru, Nijiri and Sunandi have to join a caravan to cross the desert outside Gujaareh so they can safely reach Kisua.
* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'', Trashcan Man spends a lot of time gathering old weaponry from various bases and test ranges in the Nevada desert for Flagg. After weeks wandering the desert like that in an open ATV with trailer, he ends up described as severely sunburnt with skin blistering and peeling off, as well as somewhat irradiated from the materials he's transporting.
* In ''[[Literature/TheBridgeKingdomArchives Traitor Queen]]'' when Lara's plans go awry, she and her husband have no choice but to cross the [[ThirstyDesert Red Desert]], without any proper preparation to boot. It almost kills them. At least they are sensible enough to travel mostly at night.
* [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo and Sam]] cross a very ThirstyDesert of northern Mordor on the last leg of their journey to destroy the [[ArtifactOfDoom One Ring]]. The narration explains this part of Mordor is pretty much uninhabited because of the lack of water, and the hobbits only manage to survive thanks to the cisterns Sauron has had built for his troops.

* ''Literature/TheIllustratedStarWarsUniverse'': In the Tatooine chapter, Senior Anthropologist Hoole eventually gives up on learning about the desert from moisture farmers and water prospectors, and simply walks off into the Dune Sea. Astonishingly enough, he survives unassisted, observing the animals of the surrounding desert until he finds shelter at Jabba's palace. Of course, as a Shi'ido shapeshifter, Hoole has the ability to assume a wide variety of forms adapted for life in the desert, so he has the advantage over most travelers.

* Happens early on in ''Manga/DragonBall'' when Bulma, Goku, and Oolong are on the trail of one of the titular {{MacGuffin}}s. They are soon attacked by Yamcha, the desert bandit. HilarityEnsues.

** And again in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII''. Valenice will be just fine as long as she stays within the few screens where most of the action takes place, but when she has to venture out into the greater parts of the desert, where all the screens look the same, then she has a chance of dying of thirst.

** ''[=QFG2=]'' actually had an interesting twist on this: with enough supplies (and patience), you actually '''can''' cross the desert and go from the CityOfAdventure to the WretchedHive before the scripted plotline forces you to. However, there's no point, since you can't get into the second town until said plotline occurs. But still, points for letting players do it at all.

* [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo and Sam]] cross a very ThirstyDesert of northern Mordor on the last leg of their journey to destroy the [[ArtifactOfDoom One Ring]]. The narration explains this part of Mordor is pretty much uninhabited because of the lack of water, and the hobbits only manage to survive thanks to the cisterns Sauron has had build for his troops.

* The third "chapter" of ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'' starts off with a trek through the desert
** Dusty Dunes Desert and Scaraba in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994''. Crossing the desert for a while will get you sunburned.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' has it three times across two games, corresponding to the real-world Taklamakan, Sahara, and Australian deserts. The first one requires you to find water or risk taking massive damage. The second just has tornadoes that will send you back to the start of the level if you don't know how to reveal the giant lizard causing them (and hides the game's {{Superboss}}). The third time has lots of jumping around and steppes.
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' has Teehee valley, in which Mario And Luigi must guide Peach across to get to a Mushroom Kingdom city.

* Paul and Jessica again in 2021's ''Film/{{Dune|2021}}'' in order to reach the Fremen. They try to use the Fremen "dance" walk to avoid attracting {{Sand Worm}}s, but it's to little effect. Liet-Kynes is stabbed by the Sardaukar before [[GenderFlip she]] can ride a worm to do that.