author
Rosita Forbes
d. 1967
A fearless traveler, explorer, and novelist, she became the first European woman known to reach Libya’s remote Kufra Oasis. Her vivid journeys across North Africa, Asia, and beyond made her one of the most adventurous travel writers of the early 20th century.
2 Audiobooks
The sultan of the mountains : the life story of Raisuli
by Rosita Forbes
The secret of the Sahara : Kufara
by Rosita Forbes
About the author
Born Joan Rosita Torr in England in 1890, Rosita Forbes began traveling widely during and after the First World War. She drove an ambulance in France, journeyed through Asia and North Africa, and published her first book, Unconducted Wanderers, in 1919.
In 1920–1921, Forbes traveled with Egyptian explorer Ahmed Hassanein to the Kufra Oasis in Libya, disguising herself as an Arab woman to enter the region. She later wrote numerous travel books, biographies, novels, and lectures, including The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara, From Red Sea to Blue Nile, and Forbidden Road—Kabul to Samarkand.
A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Forbes also made an early travel film and saw two of her novels adapted into silent films. She spent her later years in Bermuda and died there on June 30, 1967, aged 77.